Big Pharma Chases Dogs And Cats

From this report, Drug companies are looking everywhere for new markets

Is the pharmaceutical industry going to the dogs? In a way, the answer is yes.

A flurry of regulatory approvals for dog medicines in the past several months demonstrates a growing interest in prescription drugs for pets. These pets don't just have owners—they have people. And those people want their dogs and cats to grow old with them. In an increasing number of countries, people have extra income to spend on Fido and Fluffy to keep these companions healthy and comfortable through their geriatric years.

In response, drug companies are learning to comb their growing libraries of drugs for humans to find products that will improve pet health, bring in additional income, and possibly help advance R&D for human health.

Over the past decade, products for dogs and cats have been the biggest and fastest growing sector of the animal health market, says Nigel Chapple, an analyst with the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. "A lot of new products are entering the marketplace—a very sizable marketplace—that is increasingly competitive and very dynamic."

Big drug companies such as Pfizer, Novartis, Schering-Plough, and Wyeth that are known for making medicines for humans have animal health divisions, too. And Eli Lilly & Co., which has a food animal division called Elanco, announced its entry into the pet market in January. The pet division will take the Lilly name and focus on making brand-name medicines for dogs and cats. Companies continue to develop and manufacture products for animals raised for food, but pet products abound.

Thanks to a spate of drug approvals, veterinarians can now offer dog owners two diet drugs; treatments to ease separation anxiety, vomiting, and congestive heart failure; and a novel therapeutic cancer vaccine that might benefit humans.

Last November, the European Medicines Agency granted Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Animal Health unit approval for Yarvitan, the world's first drug for managing dog obesity. Pfizer Animal Health won approval in January for Slentrol, the first drug approved by the Food & Drug Administration for that purpose. In February, Pfizer received FDA approval for Cerenia, the first drug to treat acute vomiting in dogs and to prevent vomiting caused by motion sickness during car rides or chemotherapy.

There's more. Lilly received FDA approval in April to market its first drug for dogs. Called Reconcile, the drug treats separation anxiety and contains fluoxetine, the active ingredient in the company's blockbuster antidepressant Prozac.

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