Healthy Skepticism Library item: 10797
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
Ho C.
Animal drug sales boom
Detroit Free Press 2007 Jul 6
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070706/BUSINESS06/707060383
Full text:
Owners drive growth in specialized medications
Fueled by America’s love affair with its pets, the demand for more specialized medical treatment for animals is propelling Pfizer Animal Health to a growth rate outpacing that of Pfizer Inc.
Revenue for Pfizer’s Animal Health division climbed 5% to $2.3 billion in 2006, while Pfizer’s total revenue grew 2% to $48.4 billion.
“We’re a relatively small percent of” Pfizer, Dr. David McGavin, vice president for Global Regulatory and Market Support for Pfizer Animal Health based in Kalamazoo County, said last week. “Certainly in the last four to five years, we’ve added pennies to the dividend each quarter. But our growth rate is such that the positive impact on Pfizer income will continue to grow.”
The U.S. market for veterinary medicine for pets is growing about 6% annually, as more people are willing to spend on cutting-edge treatment for animals, said Cathy Knupp, vice president of Veterinary Medicine Research and Development for Pfizer Animal Health. The worldwide animal health market was a $16-billion industry last year, according to a March 2007 report by Wood Mackenzie, a research and consulting firm. The industry will grow 2% to a projected $17.3 billion this year, the report found.
The success of Pfizer Animal Health and the growth of the animal health industry come at a time when Pfizer is slashing 10,000 jobs worldwide — 2,400 jobs in Michigan — by 2008 as part of a restructuring plan to reduce annual costs by $2 billion.
The company in 2005 poured $50 million into adding labs and barns to its 2,100-acre farm in Richland Township in west Michigan. It’s now investing $30 million to build a facility in Portage to manufacture Convenia, a new antibiotic for dogs and cats. Pfizer will staff the new facility with current employees, company spokesman Rick Chambers said.
Pfizer will bring up to 550 jobs to downtown Kalamazoo by 2009, including moving 300 employees from its farm in Richland Township and 65 positions from Sandwich, England. Some of the 65 positions will be transfers from England, and others may be new hires from outside the company, Chambers said.
“Being a scientist and having an appreciation for science-related careers, this is really great for western Michigan and the whole state to have these jobs here,” said Dr. Stephen Sutherland, senior director of U.S. Regulatory Affairs at Pfizer Animal Health.
Slentrol, one of the four new drugs Pfizer Animal Health has introduced in the past year, is the first drug in the United States to treat obesity in dogs — a condition that veterinarians say is a common problem.
Dr. Franklin Carmona, a veterinarian at North Hills Veterinary Hospital in Rochester Hills, said that up to 40% of dogs he sees are overweight or obese. Last week, he treated a bulldog that was 40 pounds overweight, at nearly 100 pounds. Carmona has not prescribed Slentrol for any patients, but said he has talked with some pet owners, including the owner of the bulldog, about trying it.
Slentrol, which reduces appetite in dogs, was approved by the FDA in January, and many veterinary hospitals do not yet carry the drug. It can take as long as 18 months for an FDA-approved drug to be sold commercially. Attention to specialized veterinary care has surged over the last 10 years, said Dr. Lucy Henney, a surgical specialist at Oakland Veterinary Referral Services in Bloomfield Hills.
Americans will spend an estimated $40.8 billion on their pets this year, nearly double the $21 billion they spent in 1996, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, a trade association made up of more than 900 pet product manufacturers and suppliers.
“A lot of that is related to the human-animal bond,” Henney said. “People are taking them out of backyard and into the bedroom or their bed.”
