Elanco cut the ribbon on its new global headquarters in downtown Indianapolis this fall, adding more than just a building to the city’s skyline. The return of animal health companies marks an era of collaboration in One Health – the intersection of animal, plant, human and environmental health – a space with new promise and opportunity for innovation.
In partnership with Purdue University and the State of Indiana, Elanco’s campus includes the OneHealth Innovation District, a community-driven research hub designed to advance science and encourage innovation by uniting corporate innovators, academic researchers, students, investors and government leaders. Indiana’s $72.4 billion agricultural and life sciences economy, combined with a leading life sciences sector, positions the state to lead the exploration, development and growth of this new economy and its impact on the planet.
AgriNovus CEO Christy Wright says this concept offers tremendous opportunities across the value chain. “The One Health discussion generates new ideas by understanding what problems can be solved through cross-sectional collaboration. It also provides new perspectives on how innovations in food and nutrition fit into the larger discussion of the One Health portfolio.”
Elanco’s OneHealth Innovation District greatly supports this concept, and success stories are already underway in Indiana. Let’s look at a few:
BiomEdit explores the untapped potential of the microbiome
Elanco announced its intention to pioneer its microbiome platform and pipeline in 2021. About six months later, BiomEdit was launched in Indiana to explore how the health of animals, humans and the environment is affected by the populations of the bacterial species they host. They leverage the animals’ own microbial ecosystem to innovate solutions where none exist, focusing on critical issues such as preventing disease and reducing food security and methane emissions.
BiomEdit has a long-term strategic research and commercial partnership with Nutreco to provide livestock and aquaculture producers with feed additives developed through microbiome technology. They also received a $4.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate research and development of new microbial-based solutions to reduce methane emissions that improve feed efficiency in beef and dairy cattle.
Their technology, BE-101, has entered the final stages of the USDA conditional clearance process and is moving toward commercialization in 2026. Under the name “Optavant,” this technology is the first probiotic-vectored antibody designed to prevent mortality associated with necrotizing enterocolitis (NE) in broiler chickens. The disease causes annual losses of approximately $6 billion worldwide.
Corteva Agriscience accelerates disruptive innovation with Corteva Catalyst
Corteva Catalyst, the company’s investment and partnership platform, launched in 2024 with a focus on accessing and bringing to market innovations that accelerate the development of early-stage disruptive technologies that enable farmers to sustainably produce more food and feed. Six months later, they announced an equity and strategic collaboration in pairwise, a technology company that will accelerate the delivery of advanced gene editing solutions to farmers, ultimately benefiting the environment and consumers.
Pairwise and Corteva, a five-year joint venture, are leveraging both companies’ advanced gene editing capabilities to create and evaluate unique gene edits across a variety of traits in a variety of crops to develop and deploy new products that are more resilient to extreme weather events and climate change.
Additionally, the 2025 Corteva Catalyst enables a strategic collaboration with Profluent Bio, a pioneer in generative AI for protein design, to deliver the next generation of more sustainable and resilient crops. This partnership integrates with Corteva’s Genlytix ecosystem, an industry-leading feature set that enables gene editing and its future role in plant breeding, including precision to improve yield, pest resistance, drought and heat tolerance, and quality, providing trusted solutions for growers around the world.
Startup landscape emerging as One Health, food is health
AgriNovus identified Food is Health as a priority for Indiana’s innovation future in its Accelerate 2050 strategy, and early-stage innovations are emerging quickly and contributing to the overall One Health picture.
True Essence Foods is a technology company focused on licensing flavor balance and symmetry solutions for the food and beverage industry.
FloVision Solutions leverages automated data collection and actionable insights to optimize protein quality, process, and yield.
Nutripop is a healthy superfood snack made from popped water lily seeds, containing 130 calories and 3g of protein per serving.
Earth Life Foods is a plant-based food manufacturing company that offers private label products, bulk packaging, private labeling, non-GMO, vegan, and vegan options.
As the focus of One Health continues to take shape and collaborations evolve, Wright encourages leaders to consider new, unconventional conversations. “There is a tremendous opportunity across Indiana’s leading R1 academic institutions, agricultural life sciences and life sciences ecosystems to identify, envision and address the biggest challenges facing One Health. The conversation needs to start in the room with new faces as we learn new things, and this is an exciting endeavor.”
AgriNovus, along with Elanco and BioCrossroads, will host a life sciences summit focused on discussions on One Health in Indianapolis on November 13, 2025. You can get more information and tickets for the event here. Subscribe to the Agbioscience podcast to join weekly discussions about the intersection of food, animal health, plant science, agtech, and agriculture.
