DIAH Conference 2026 showcases eaarly stage pipeline for Animal Health

BRUGES, BELGIUM — The second biennial Discovery to Innovation in Animal Health (DIAH) Conference 2026 concluded its three-day run at the Bruges Meeting and Convention Center (BMCC). Sponsored by AnimalhealthEurope and organized by Provaxs (Ghent University), the highly specialized event brought together a select group of 200 delegates, establishing itself as the premier European destination for early-stage animal health research and development.

Unlike standard commercial B2B match-making expos, DIAH differentiators lie entirely in its focus on the pre-development, discovery, and proof-of-concept (PoC) phases. The conference acts as a bridge to fill a long-standing operational gap in Europe, connecting academic researchers, institutional spin-offs, and early-stage biotech startups directly with the scouting teams of Tier-1 animal health multinationals.

Structural Masterclasses: Accelerating the Path to Commercialization

A core strategic pillar of DIAH 2026 was a series of expert-led masterclasses designed to guide academic developers through the complex regulatory and scale-up pathways required to translate laboratory science into market-ready assets.

Unified Vaccine Platform (UVP) — Verovaccines GmbH

A standout session led by Ulrike Diesterbeck focused on the deployment of the Unified Vaccine Platform (UVP). Built around an advanced antigen capsule technology, this framework enables end-to-end process standardization—from antigen design through regulatory filing to industrial-scale manufacturing.

The platform has been validated across seven distinct vaccine programs targeting both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. A key case study featured VeroBlue-3, a recombinant bluetongue virus serotype 3 vaccine that progressed from baseline concept to full European Medicines Agency (EMA) dossier completion within just nine months. This timeline highlights a significant acceleration over conventional inactivated virus methods, offering an agile alternative to mRNA-based pipelines.

Ruminant Vaccine Scaling — Moredun Research Institute

Dr. Stewart Burgess led a masterclass on the operational lifecycle of ruminant vaccine development. The framework provided a blueprint for navigating the technical friction points that often derail academic proof-of-concepts before they reach commercial manufacturing pipelines.

Innovation Spotlight: The Pitch Sessions

The core of the conference centered on the Innovation Spotlight, which featured two distinct pitch tracks: Emerging Technologies (earliest-stage scientific discovery) and Emerging Startups (entrepreneurial scientists preparing for spin-off launches). Pitched innovations spanned a broad multi-disciplinary matrix, including:

• Therapeutics & Specialized Biologics: Targeted monoclonal antibody fragments and next-generation antimicrobials aimed at bypassing the European Union’s tight restrictions on sub-therapeutic veterinary drug use

• Point-of-Care (PoC) Diagnostics: Low-cost, fast field-testing kits designed to allow farm veterinarians to track viral variants on-site, minimizing regional quarantine delays

• Medical Devices & E-Health: Integrated hardware and cloud-based software tools using artificial intelligence to monitor biometric and behavioral indicators of animal pain and stress, directly supporting global farm welfare requirements

Executive Roundtable: Navigating a Shifting Market

The conference featured a high-level opening keynote titled “The Animal Health Industry: Livestock and Companion, Same Business?” co-hosted by Juerg Baggenstoss (Partner at Stonehaven), Klaus Hellmann (CEO at Argenta), and Kazuhiko Hirose (Meiji Animal Health).

The roundtable analyzed the structural convergence and divergence between livestock and companion animal markets. Executives noted that while companion animal pipelines are increasingly mirroring human health trends—such as premium oncology treatments and chronic pain monoclonal antibodies—the livestock sector remains hyper-focused on input-cost optimization and regional biosecurity defenses.

The panel concluded that for early-stage developers to successfully out-license their intellectual property to major players like Boehringer Ingelheim, Elanco, or Zoetis, they must align their scientific projects with Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 5–6 and provide clear validation data demonstrating commercial scalability.

Strategic Ecosystem: Bridging the “Valley of Death”

The inclusion of experts from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), including Dr. Ivo Claassen and Dr. Ralf Herold, highlighted the growing importance of regulatory science in accelerating early-stage innovation. The EMA sessions outlined how adaptive regulatory pathways can help developers structure their trial data early, preventing the costly missteps that often stall promising therapies during the transition from academic discovery to commercial deployment.

By providing a focused, high-trust environment with structured one-to-one business matchmaking, DIAH 2026 successfully helped de-risk early-stage animal biotech. The event provided a clear roadmap for European research organizations looking to turn raw intellectual property into valuable, commercial-ready innovations.