Zoetis to Acquire Basepaws, an Innovative Leader in Petcare Genetics

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Press release: Zoetis

Zoetis Inc. recently announced an agreement to acquire Basepaws, a privately held petcare genetics company, which provides pet owners with genetic tests, analytics and early health risk assessments that can help manage the health, wellness and quality of care for their pets. The acquisition will advance Zoetis’ portfolio in the precision animal health space and will inform and shape its future pipeline of petcare innovations. Financial terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

As a pioneer in petcare genetics, Basepaws offers easy to use, genetic screening tools for the early detection of disease risk in pets, as well as individualized breed and health reports that can identify traits, biomarkers and potential hereditary conditions for pets. Basepaws helps pet owners and veterinarians understand an individual pet’s risk for disease and can lead to more meaningful engagements and increased likelihood of early detection and treatment of disease.

“The Basepaws team has done an amazing job demonstrating how genetic testing and data can improve how we care for the pets in our lives,” said Abhay Nayak, executive vice president of strategy, accelerated growth businesses and commercial development. “With the addition of Basepaws, Zoetis will continue to strengthen our portfolio of products for precision animal health, across genetics, diagnostics and data analytics for pets and livestock. We are also excited by how Basepaws’ feline genomic and microbiome database will help enhance our R&D capabilities and inform the future of our petcare pipeline.”

“Basepaws and Zoetis both consist of pet lovers with a passion for science, and our mission is to create better and longer lives for our pets through knowledge and data,” said Basepaws CEO Anna Skaya, who founded the company in 2017. “We look forward to expanding our business and the impact of our genetic products with the global scale and R&D experience of Zoetis, the world leader in animal health. We believe that together we can bring the benefits of a more proactive healthcare approach to pet parents around the world.”

Basepaws developed and markets a comprehensive DNA test for cats and the world’s first at-home oral health test for cats, with plans to expand into the dog market. Today, Basepaws’ genetic testing services are primarily marketed directly to pet owners in the U.S., and include its popular Breed + Health Cat DNA Test. Using its world-class feline genomic database, this test can estimate a cat’s genetic similarity to more than 21 breed types and four breed regions, and it provides results for over 115 known feline genetic markers — 65 markers for genetic health conditions and 50 markers for traits.

Basepaws also has one of the world’s largest feline genomic and oral microbiome databases, which is a rich resource to validate traits and health conditions for today’s cats, while also informing future research and development efforts and targets. Zoetis’ R&D organization has brought game-changing innovation to petcare over the last 10 years in dermatology, parasiticides and pain, and the Basepaws database will help refine and inform the company’s pipeline and future targets.