Chapter 1 Strategic issues in crossover product development

Chapter 2 Crossover developments by disease sector

Chapter 3 Crossover product potential of the leading animal health companies

Whilst there is little growth in the market for animal health products for commercial livestock, the companion animal sector has seen strong growth over the last decade, and now accounts for more than half the total market in the UK and US. At the same time, research and development costs continued to spiral upwards in the face of technological change and increasing regulatory demands. Hard-pressed animal health companies have been forced to trim their research portfolios and reassess the risks associated with new product development efforts in some key product areas, notably feed additives and biotechnology products.

The growth in the market for companion animal products and the increase in R&D costs have combined with the fact that most of the leading animal health companies are owned by parent companies focused on the human pharmaceutical (and in some cases the agrochemical) sector. Consequently, many animal health companies have started to develop 'crossover' products, ie those developed originally for use in the human health or crop protection sectors and adapted for veterinary use. This report, which updates and expands on its 2000 predecessor, analyses these trends.

The first part of the report assesses strategic issues. These include the factors governing access to potential crossover candidates, the selection of crossover products, product development, marketing and pricing decisions. The chapter also assesses future market prospects for crossover products, addressing a range of factors that will affect growth rates and development/licensing activity between 2003 and 2010. The likely impact of those factors is analysed in a concluding section that contains market forecasts for companion animal products to the end of the decade.

The second chapter comprises an in-depth examination of eight key therapeutic areas (anti-inflammatories, cardiovasculars, gastrointestinal products, antiparasitics, endocrine treatments, anti-infectives, behaviour modifying agents and anticancer drugs) of the companion animal products market. For each area, the report details key disease targets and current therapies, major drug classes and their modes of action, recent developments in terms of veterinary-approved product launches, and potential crossover candidates that may be brought to market as veterinary-licensed products in future.

Chapter three profiles 14 companies with a track record in the successful development of crossover products, describing recent activity in the sector and identifying the most likely future crossover candidates contained in parent company portfolios.

Much of the commercial information contained in the report was obtained through direct contact with the companies involved, and through searches of company reports and other literature. Two databases published by PJB Publications were also used extensively as sources of information on human drugs and agrochemicals already commercialised or currently in development. These are described below.

Pharmaprojects is a comprehensive database that tracks human drugs in research and development, monitoring the progress of more than 7,000 molecules at any one time and containing information on some 30,000 new drug candidates that have been investigated and verified since 1980. It is available in a regularly-updated CD format and can also be accessed via the web.

AGROProjects is PJB's agrochemical research and development database. Like its human drug equivalent, it tracks the progress of all major active ingredients and is updated on a regular basis. It is available in hard-copy, CD, web or HTML format, and information from the database is also accessible online via the Dialog Corporation.