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Kansas City Initiative Reels in Synbiotics Corp. By Marissa Heflin Synbiotics Corp., a veterinary diagnostic company, recently announced plans to move its headquarters and research and development operations from San Diego to Kansas City, Mo. It becomes the first animal health company to do so since the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor was launched. The initiative – a three-pronged effort of the Kansas City Area Development Council, the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute and the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce – was created to expand the animal health industry in the Kansas City area, including recruiting new animal health companies and stimulating research investments. “Kansas City has the largest animal health concentration in the world,” said Lynn Parman, the development council’s vice president of life sciences and technology. “We want to capitalize on that.” The Kansas City area has nearly 120 companies that serve the animal health and nutrition industry, including 45 headquartered there. The area is home to companies such as Bayer Animal Health, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Fort Dodge Animal Health, Intervet, Hill’s Pet Nutrition and IVX Animal Health. According to a recent study by Brakke Consulting, Inc., animal-health-product companies headquartered in the area represent 27 percent of the $5 billion U.S. animal health market and 30 percent of the $14.2 billion global animal health market. Ron Brakke, president of Brakke Consulting, said that he is unaware of any other area in the United States that has specifically targeted animal health companies. Bringing companies to his region will also create new jobs, Parman said. The region’s proximity to the veterinary colleges of the University of Missouri-Columbia, Kansas State University, Iowa State University and Oklahoma State University, was one factor in helping Paul Hays, president and chief executive officer of Synbiotics, decide to move the company. Hays said that in San Diego, it can be difficult to hire people who know animal agriculture. “There is a certain talent base here in Kansas City,” Hays said. “The abundance of educated and trained animal scientists and the skilled workforce in the Kansas City area was very important to our decision to locate here.” Synbiotics, which is in its final negotiations on a facility in Kansas City, will create 42 new jobs for area residents. Hays estimates that he will initially employ five or six veterinarians. “Kansas City’s concentration of animal health companies, technology and resources was very appealing to us,” Hays said. “We knew this is where we needed to be.”
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