- Boehringer Ingelheim, Mars Science & Diagnostics and leading pet, public health and animal health authorities to join Advisory Board
- Collaboration to address emerging pet and public health threats to protect pets and people
- Early detection potential has global pet and public health benefits
SEATTLE, Aug. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Trupanion, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRUP), the leading provider of medical insurance for cats and dogs in North America, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and leading pet industry partners, today announced the formation of a collaborative Advisory Board to launch a Pet & Public Health Early Warning & Detection System. The Advisory Board will also be joined by Boehringer Ingelheim, Mars Science & Diagnostics, and other leading pet, public health and animal health authorities.
The Early Warning & Detection System will be centered around Trupanion’s patented Veterinary Portal technology, which is already active in over 10,000 veterinary hospitals in North America and expanding globally. While purposely built as a tool to pay veterinary hospitals directly for Trupanion-insured members in real-time, there is a significant and immediate public health benefit that previously had not been leveraged. This technology will serve as a link to finding and analyzing signs of illness and health patterns in dogs and cats across breed, age, geography and more.
Real-time pet illness data offer critical insights into trends impacting companion animals and could help address a gap in surveillance by providing more data on pet illnesses. By making this data available to the Pet & Public Health Early Warning Advisory Board, Trupanion aims to help address the gap, enabling early detection and response to potential threats to pets and public health, ensuring a comprehensive approach to safeguarding the well-being of pets, their families, and the global community.
Dr. Steve Weinrauch, BVMS, MRCVS, Trupanion’s Chief Veterinary & Product Officer noted, “The veterinary profession serves as a first line of defense for protecting both pets and public health. Empowering those entrusted with the care of our family pets is vital. Using real-time illness data, the Early Warning & Detection System concept could one day help to rapidly detect patterns and signs of illness in dogs and cats anywhere, any breed, any age, any sex, any time. For example, if young, female Poodles are coughing in Southern California, we could know in real-time and take quick action to determine any risks to pet health or public health.”
Dr. Weinrauch added, “Early detection has global public health benefits. It could slow the spread of disease, speed treatment or alert to a brewing epidemic or pandemic. It could one day even help alert us to viruses such as those typically only identified in production animals if they jump to our household companions.”
Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh, Director of CDC’s One Health Office says, “Healthy pets make healthy people. Early warning systems through public-private One Health partnerships can help fill gaps in data on illnesses in pets. This information can be applied to public health so we can better protect our pets, our families, and our communities.”
CDC’s One Health Office recognizes that the health of people is connected to the health of animals and our shared environment. A One Health approach encourages collaborative efforts of many experts (like disease detectives, laboratorians, physicians, and veterinarians) working across human, animal, and environmental health to improve the health of people and animals, including pets, livestock, and wildlife.
Initial Focus: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) or H5N1 Bird Flu
One of the first initiatives of the Pet & Public Health Early Warning Advisory Board will be to increase awareness of H5N1 bird flu in the veterinary community.
“Based on the information available at this time, CDC believes the risk to the U.S. general public from H5N1 bird flu remains low. To date, H5N1 bird flu has been detected in four people who had direct contact with infected dairy cows, and 10 people involved with depopulation of poultry at a poultry facility experiencing an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu virus. However, an increase in infection among cats exposed to infected dairy cows has been reported recently, and these cats became seriously ill and the majority died,” said Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh.
“At Trupanion, we’re committed to using our real-time and historical data for the benefit of pets and public health,” stated Dr. Weinrauch. “We look forward to further exciting announcements on our joint efforts in the near future.”
Dr. Barton Behravesh added, “We’re pleased to have Trupanion’s support and reach, providing unique resources and data to veterinarians.”
While the current risk to people and pets without exposure to infected wild birds, poultry or cows remains low, pet parents and veterinary professionals can stay up to date with the latest information:
- H5N1 Bird Flu: Current Situation
- Bird Flu in Pets and Other Animals
- Avian influenza in pets and backyard flocks
- Considerations for Veterinarians: Evaluating and Handling of Cats Potentially Exposed to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in Cats
Pet & Public Health Early Warning Advisory Board Information & Resources
In the coming weeks, Trupanion and the Pet & Public Health Early Warning Advisory Board will be introducing additional resources aimed at raising awareness of emerging pet and public health threats, including H5N1 bird flu. These resources, and more, can be found at https://petpublichealth.org.
About Trupanion
Trupanion is the leading provider of medical insurance for over 1,000,000 cats and dogs throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Puerto Rico and Australia. For over two decades, Trupanion has given pet parents peace of mind so they can focus on their pet’s recovery, not financial stress. With its patented process, Trupanion is the only North American provider with the technology to pay veterinarians directly in seconds at the time of checkout. Trupanion is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol “TRUP”. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Seattle, WA. Trupanion policies are issued, in the United States, by its wholly-owned insurance entity American Pet Insurance Company and, in Canada, by Accelerant Insurance Company of Canada. Trupanion Australia is a partnership between Trupanion and Hollard Insurance Company. For more information, please visit trupanion.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 relating to, among other things, expectations, plans, prospects and collaborative partnering efforts. These forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and beliefs as of the date of this press release, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described. In particular, development and execution of collaborative activity could be delayed or changed as efforts continue. For a detailed discussion of risks and uncertainties with respect to Trupanion and its business, please refer to the risk factors discussed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including but not limited to, Trupanion’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and any subsequently filed reports on Forms 10-Q, 10-K and 8-K.
Trupanion Contacts:
Laura Bainbridge
SVP, Corporate Communications
Corporate.Communications@trupanion.com
