Companies in the veterinary pharmaceuticals industry are increasingly collaborating and partnering with other players to drive product innovations. To succeed in the increasingly competitive veterinary pharmaceuticals market, veterinary medicines companies are entering into new geographies and developing innovative products through sharing skills and expertise with other players. In April 2019, Bayer AG, a German pharmaceutical and life sciences company, collaborated with Adivo GmbH, a biotech company generating therapeutic antibodies for companion animals, to develop therapeutic antibodies for veterinary medicine. Similarly, in June 2018, Merck & Co.’s subsidiary, MSD Animal Health, announced a strategic partnership with Vinovo B.V., a division of Viscon Hatchery Automation, the leading hatchery automation company, to provide a new standard in safe and effective in ovo vaccination to improve bird welfare, reduce vaccine reactions and provide improved protection for poultry.

The global veterinary pharmaceuticals market is expected to grow from around $33,762 million in 2019 to nearly $54,472 million in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7%. Veterinary pharmaceuticals (or drugs) are used to sedate, treat animal diseases and/or to improve animals’ performance and health. The veterinary pharmaceuticals industry includes establishments that manufacture veterinary pharmaceuticals such as veterinary vaccines, veterinary antibiotics, and other veterinary pharmaceuticals.

Other product developments or innovations in the veterinary pharma market include the use of immunotherapy, development of chewable tablets, application of nanotechnology, oral drug solutions for the treatment of feline hypertension, and the use of subunit and virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines. Veterinary medicine manufacturers are increasingly producing subunit and virus-like particle (VLP)- based vaccines to provide high quality treatment solutions to the costumers. A subunit vaccine is a fragment of a pathogen (surface protein) mainly used to trigger an immune response and stimulate acquired immunity against the same pathogen. As subunit vaccines do not contain live components of the pathogen, it is safer and highly recommended by veterinary physicians. Virus-like particle-based vaccines are artificial protein structures with the overall structure similar to their corresponding native viruses. They resemble viruses with self-assembly properties, but lose the ability to cause infections as a result of genome modifications. Both, subunit and virus-like particle (VLP)- based vaccines are used due to their high specificity to the most relevant antigen. Subunit vaccines are modified from the wild type structure to increase the immunogenicity. Both the vaccines are highly effective as compared to other vaccines. Examples of VLP-based vaccines are Ingelvac CircoFLEX. Companies such as Zoetis, a USA-based company, produces different types of vaccines including subunit vaccines.