Flocking to the Future
Many baa-rilliant business ideas are born from a pressing need"
And New England Ovis (NEO) is no exception. From lamb to lab, they’re making a massive impact in the world of medical innovation, as they brought to market a one-of-a-kind solution to a challenge faced by research labs worldwide.
Sheep Heroes
Sheep are used in many preclinical studies to deem medical devices and treatments safe and efficacious for humans. With physiological and anatomical similarities to humans, they’re the silent heroes of key areas of biomedical research, including cardiovascular, pulmonary, maternal-fetal, orthopedic, neurologic, genitourinary, and more.
Julie and Richard (Dick) Hurley, Owners of NEO, are both board-certified veterinarians with specializations in Laboratory Animal Medicine and Veterinary Preventive Medicine, respectively.
Prior to founding NEO in 2005, Dick was working at Mass General Hospital, where research teams faced issues with the health of the sheep used in their research. Animals were prone to germs, sickness, and disease, which caused an array of data discrepancies, stress, and disruptive slowdowns. To find healthier, stronger sheep for research, they tried several new vendors, antibiotics, and other solutions to no avail.
Dick went home and had a conversation with Julie, posing the question as to whether or not it was possible to raise disease-free sheep for researchers at MGH.
Julie’s answer was full of possibility and curiosity, “Theoretically, yes…”
Raising the World’s Healthiest Sheep
Together, Julie and Dick pioneered a creative new approach, delivering lambs by C-section and raising them in a bio-secure environment, completely isolated from potential contaminants and other sheep. This innovative method resulted in a first-generation flock of disease-free sheep. Eliminating the potential for disease transmission, they got rid of 50+ pathogens and created what might be the world’s healthiest sheep commercially available.
This first flock was specifically bred to fill the need at MGH, but they realized quickly that they were on to something incredible. As a result of being disease-free, the animals were turning out to be easier for labs to work with as they were well-cared for and experienced less stress overall. The robust health of the sheep allowed for fewer animals to be required for the studies overall (30-35% reduction, on average).
Building a Business with Research-Ready Solutions
20 years into their business, NEO sheep are in high demand for preclinical research and have contributed to cutting-edge advancements. Their business has grown entirely by word of mouth and an unwavering commitment to the utmost care and best practices for their sheep.
Julie and Dick ensure each sheep is hand-reared, experiences minimal stress, and that the facilities in which they’re being delivered to are safe, clean, and compassionate. Researchers are in awe at how much more productive they’re able to be because of how easy the sheep are to work with. The sheep are cared for by loving people, in the best of circumstances for the best life possible.
The result is cleaner data, no obstruction of results due to confounding health issues, and higher-quality studies.
NEO employs three full-time employees as well as many Pre-Veterinary students on a part-time basis. Julie, a natural teacher, regularly guides students in hands-on care, including obstetrics, animal handling, and blood collection.
They’re typically raising between 400-450 sheep at a time, lambing year-round, and have orders for sheep yet to be born. They deliver throughout the US and personally train each facility to ensure animals are well-housed and cared for.
The SBDC Brings the Big Picture into Focus
Peter Lampsis, NEO’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, learned of the NH SBDC through his affiliation with Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) in Manchester, NH. He was encouraged to reach out to SBDC Advisor, John Clemente [1] and hasn’t looked back since!
“It’s easy,” shares Peter, “To get caught up in the day-to-day operations and lose sight of the bigger picture. That’s where John at the SBDC came in.” As they are currently at maximum capacity and preparing to expand their operation, John’s guidance has been invaluable in understanding market opportunities and how to move forward.
“We’re veterinarians, scientists, and medical people. Not businesspeople.” - Dick Hurley
Masters of their craft, but not master’s in business, they’ve appreciated John’s vast intelligence, listening skills, humble and service-minded attitude, and tailored advice. John’s opened doors by facilitating pivotal connections and helping them to create a strategy for locating financing and presenting to the right investors. As they grow their business geographically and in scale, Julie and Dick are looking for more than just money to fuel their next steps; they’re looking for business-savvy partners who share their vision and care.
“It’s about the mission and what these animals can do in the realm of medicine and healing people.” - Julie Hurley
NEO Sheep in Action
Here are just a few examples of life-saving innovations made possible with NEO sheep:
- Development of new asthma drugs
- Tendon and ligament repair
- Brain machine interface (BMI) technology and wireless brain implants
- Stabilization of fractures on the battlefield and bone regeneration
- Improved kidney dialysis drugs
- Tissue engineering for growing organs for transplant without risk of rejection
- And many more life-saving medical advancements!
This is only the beginning for NEO sheep heroes! Julie and Dick stay true to their founding principles and big picture vision as they expand to raise their flocks to impact generation after generation to come.