Gallant Custom Laboratories in the Canadian city of Cambridge, Ontario has been “an IDT company” since September 1 of this year. Gallant Custom Laboratories, the only company authorized in Canada to manufacture viral and bacterial autogenous vaccines, has been acquired by IDT and integrated into the IDT family.
“With its strong scientific focus, in-house research and development activities and production of autogenous vaccines for the Canadian market, Gallant is an outstanding match for the IDT Group,” says IDT Biologika CEO, Dr. Ralf Pfirmann, upon announcing the acquisition. “With this second acquisition in North America in just a few weeks, IDT Biologika is highlighting its close attention to this key international market.”
Autogenous vaccines for Canadian livestock
Customers from all over Canada are served by family-run Gallant Custom Laboratories, which manufactures autogenous vaccines against livestock diseases with the authorization of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The company relies on modern lab diagnostics to identify viral and bacterial diseases in pigs, sheep, goats, cattle and poultry, and produces the appropriate autogenous vaccines corresponding to specific pathogens. The company with its staff of twelve is integrated by IDT Biologika and will continue to do business as “Gallant Custom Laboratories – an IDT Biologika company.” Jackie Gallant, who founded the company 20 years ago, will remain CEO.
“It is not just for its proprietary research and development in bacterial and viral vaccines that the new company is an important addition to the IDT Biologika family,” says IDT CEO Andreas Kastenbauer. “Gallant’s livestock market expertise, connections to Canadian pig and poultry farming, and collaboration with academic institutions in the field of animal health are strengths that Gallant will continue to pursue in the future, and that will benefit IDT as a whole.”
“Perfectly complementary capabilities and expertise”
Jackie Gallant sees many advantages for her company in the new relationship with IDT and integration into its Animal Health division: “As an IDT company, Gallant will have many future opportunities to serve the Canadian animal health market with new technologies and services. Our existing business will continue to grow and improve with new investments from IDT. I see us as having perfectly complementary capabilities and expertise. Even though IDT is much larger, it is still a family-run company and for that reason is a very good match with Gallant’s culture.”
The new IDT company in Canada will play a key role in the globalization of the IDT Animal Health business. “Gallant Custom Laboratories provides us with excellent access to the Canadian and North American livestock and poultry vaccine market. We will invest not only in expanding the autogenous vaccine business, but also expand the research laboratories and services,” concludes Andreas Kastenbauer. “We will greatly benefit from this foundation in Canada when we gain authorization for commercial vaccines under the IDT brand in North America, and introduce them into our most important market.”