Agenix appoints new US vet distributor

Brisbane-based Agenix (ASX:AGX) has appointed a new distributor for its animal health diagnostic products in the US.

Under a new agreement, Agenix subsidiary Agen Biomedical will supply its point-of-care tests for canine heartworm -- a US$52 million market -- and feline leukaemia to US veterinarians under Vedco's Statscreen brand.

Agenix has been without a US distributor for its veterinary products since April this year, when it dumped Synbiotics, its distributor since 2001.

In April, AGEN Biomedical's vice-president of animal health, Dr Paul McLernan, said Synbiotics had not been able to address the US market to Agen's satisfaction for some time.

Today, Agenix CEO Don Home said Synbiotic had been undergoing "financial difficulties".

He said Vedco, by contrast, was a rapidly growing company -- a cooperative, whose 10 shareholders were large US veterinary wholesalers, giving the firm a much wider reach. Vedco has 26 distributors around the US.

In a statement, McLernan said Agen was one of the first companies to bring biotech-based diagnostic products to the animal health market, which it had supplied since the mid-1980s. "This re-entry [through the Vedco agreement] provides a platform for our continued activity and growth in this region," he said.