Captain Prozac

Ken Cohen '76 is giving veterinary care a shot in the leg. "As a dog owner and lover, I've seen major changes in the field," she says. "I used to take my dogs in for their shots and that was it. But now there are all these high. tech pharmaceuticals and other methods of diaghostic care."

As director of San" Diego-based 'Symbiotics Corp., Cohen has lielpfed make these methods available. Under his direction the biotechnology firm, which sells veterinary diagnostics and vaccines, has grown from $13 million to $30 million in three years, "and we think we're gonna get a Whole lot bigger." he says.

Go ahead, ask Cohen about dogs on Prozac. Having spent ten years at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, Cohen earned the nickname "Captain Prozac" for overseeing its commercial release for humans. "We do see dogs on Prozac, just not in any formal, endorsed, FDA sort-of-way," he says, confident that anti-depressants and antianxiety drugs may well help pets with such problems as obsessive-compulsive disorder and separation anxiety. Current screenings with Symbiotics-developed technology are producing positive results. Also ahead for the company: a canine early pregnancy test.

And Cohen is panting to expand Symbiotics into foreign markets. "Anybody who's ever been to France or England knows that they love their pets," he says. "In England it's cats, in France it's dogs," says Cohen. "When I die, I might like to come back as a dogin France."

Ken "Captain Prozac"Cohen '76 wants to bea dog's best friend.