Intersouth Partners, Novartis and other investors pour $6 million in new funding into Durham-based Advanced Animal Diagnostics for launch of two products.
The money will be used to launch Qscout, an automated on-farm lab system and Qscout MLD, a test for mastitis in dairy cows, as well as development of other tests.
The deal was announced early Wednesday.
Intersouth, which is based in Durham, and Novartis also were part of a $11 million funding round a year ago.
In February, AAD said a field trial had demonstrated the effectiveness of its test for diagnosing mastitis in dairy cows, enabling treatment of only cows that were stricken rather than widespread use of antibiotics.
“Selective dry-cow therapy has been shown to have economic benefits, but it hasn’t been a practical option because currently available testing methods are either costly and time-consuming or they lack accuracy,” said Mitchell Hockett, director of technical research for AADand the principal investigator of the study. “This study shows the MLD reliably diagnoses subclinical mastitis and effectively guides selective treatment decisions at dry-off.”
The Qscout automated reader enables multiple tests to be run on the same machine.
“I understand how frustrating and costly it is to wait for lab results,” said Dr. Ben Shelton , owner of Rocky Creek Dairy, Rocky Creek Veterinary Service and AAD board member, in the funding announcement. “Producers need fast diagnostic information on the farm that’s cost-effective enough to use widely, and that’s what this funding will help ensure.”
