Stonehaven Incubate creates unique collaboration to boost animal health through wearable technology
Stonehaven Incubate has teamed up with Sports Performance Tracking (SPT) and veterinary pain specialist, Dr. B Duncan X Lascelles – all leaders in their respective fields – to create a new venture that will commercialise sensor technology to improve animal health.
AniV8 (pronounced An-i-vate) is designed to become the leading developer of clinical sensor technology recommended by veterinarians to diagnose and monitor common companion animal disease states. AniV8 will be officially launched at the Kisaco Research Animal Health Investment Europe conference in London on February 24-26, 2020.
AniV8 has been formed to commercialise its first product, a novel approach to measuring the impact of osteoarthritis pain in companion animals by using proprietary algorithms to measure the quality of movement.
AniV8’s Co-Founder, Dr. Duncan Lascelles, is a leading authority on the measurement and management of canine and feline pain. He is currently Professor of Small Animal Surgery and Pain Management at North Carolina State University, and Director of the Translational Research in Pain (TRiP) Program and the Comparative Pain Research and Education Centre (CPREC).
“We have taken a novel approach to measuring the impact of musculoskeletal pain that is agnostic to species, size, shape, age and lifestyle characteristics,” Dr. Lascelles said. “Importantly, we believe our device will be a more reliable and accurate endpoint for clinical trials, diagnosis and treatment efficacy than subjective questionnaires completed by caregivers, and the technology can be deployed in clinical practice to assess the effectiveness of ongoing therapies.”
Dr. Mark Heffernan, CEO of Stonehaven Incubate, said: “SPT has already developed wearable devices and software which meet the needs of sports scientists, athletes and coaches to record and analyse in-game performance in detail.
“We have leveraged SPT’s deep knowledge to develop our device, which can spot the early signs of disease using sensor devices by detecting changes in behaviour and movement. That insight will be invaluable to veterinarians and owners, enabling earlier awareness and therapeutic and physical intervention to improve the wellbeing of animals.
“This is a unique and exciting development,” said Dr. Heffernan. “AniV8 has the potential to revolutionise the way we manage musculoskeletal issues in animals.”
Capital raising for the new venture will begin in the first quarter of 2020.
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