Spotlight Innovation, a venture capital-backed holding company specialized in identifying, acquiring and nurturing companies that have unique intellectual property in the medical sector, has established a third subsidiary, CDT Veterinary Therapeutics, focusing on veterinary oncology.

CDT Veterinary is currently engaged in the commercialization of Crotalin, a protein fraction purified from the venom of the tropical rattlesnake Crotalus durissus terrificus. Animal studies are said to have shown that Crotalin, which is comprised of cytotoxic proteins, is highly toxic to a variety of cancer cell lines and has the potential to be an effective cancer therapeutic in companion animals.

“The veterinary cancer therapeutics market for companion animals represents an opportunity with lower barriers of entry and a pathway to revenue,” said Spotlight Innovation CEO Cris Grunewald.

CDT Veterinary Therapeutics’ president, Paul Reid, added that veterinary medicine is also a natural market to begin commercialization efforts. “As drug development incorporates a multitude of animal studies, it makes sense to assess the veterinary market opportunity as we continue with our human trials.”

The American Pet Products Association (APPA) estimates that there are 77.8 million pet dogs and 85.8 million pet cats in the US. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, cancer accounts for almost half of the deaths of pets over 10 years of age.

As veterinary medicine becomes more sophisticated, including the introduction of diagnostic technologies, treatments and surgeries once reserved for people, expenditure for companion animal veterinary care are increasing, the associations say. APPA calculates veterinary care costs of $15.04 billion in the US in 2014, up from $10.1 billion in 2007.

Spotlight Innovations’ other subsidiaries include US-based Celtic Biotech, which is developing novel, clinical trial-phase products for the treatment of cancers and pain in humans, and Memcine Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company primarily focused on enhancing vaccine efficacy for humans and animals. The holding and all three subsidiaries are based in the US state of Iowa.