Biotech Start-Ups Zero In On Pet Medicines

        Dr. Steven St. Peter, quoted below, with his dog, Flo.

This article in the Business Section of The New York Times just a few days ago, discusses an extremely important area of pet health care: the development of new medicines to treat a variety of companion animal diseases. Although the big pharmaceutical companies have had veterinary drug divisions for awhile, they focus more on treating livestock. And those that do currently develop drugs for dogs and cats concentrate on routine veterinary care, like vaccines and flea, tick and worm control.

Enter the small biotech start-ups who are putting their research dollars into medications for canine and feline cancer and arthritis. One of the co-founders of Aratana, a biotech start-up focusing on veterinary medicines, claims that he was struck by the fact that "...the biotechnology industry didn't really participate in animal health at all." He called it "... a very large industry that was ripe for innovation."

Why is the time (financially)  right for these start-ups? Primarily because most of us now consider pets full members of the family deserving of the same range of medical services that humans receive, like chemotherapy, knee surgery, and more. I was horrified to learn that you humans spent over $800 million on your pets for Valentines Day and $400 million for Halloween, according to this article. So what's a few thousand more to prolong your precious pet's life? 

And Parental Unit knows all about spending tons of money on doggie surgeries...count five surgeries totaling $11,000 pm my beloved predecessor, Carson. (She never gets tired of quoting that figure...I think she's still in shock!)

So what do you think? Are you happy that biotech companies are finally getting around to focusing on companion animal drugs? Let us know!

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