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The animal health market

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 1, pages 937–938 (2002)Cite this article

The veterinary medicines industry has an important role in maintaining the health and productivity of 3.3 billion livestock and 16 billion poultry worldwide, and ensuring the wholesomeness and abundance of the food they produce. In addition to agricultural animals, the industry caters for the health and well-being of 1 billion companion animals. Despite this, the human health-care market is 35 times bigger than the combined market for all non-human species.

The companion animal market has grown strongly for several reasons, including sustained economic growth in the developed world during the 1990s, the introduction of new technologies, the lower costs, risks and improved time to market for companion animal compared with food animal products, and the industry's investment in the awareness of pet owners. Although the pet population has increased marginally, the key driver for growth has been the willingness of pet owners to spend more on the health of their animals and the ability of veterinarians to meet that need.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: Market size of UK animal health products in 2000.

References

  1. Wood Mackenzie. Animal Health Service (Wood Mackenzie, Edinburgh, 2002).

  2. Wood Mackenzie. Strategic Development of the Pet Healthcare Market (Wood Mackenzie, Edinburgh, 2000).

  3. National Office of Animal Health. Facts and figures about the UK animal medicines industry. National Office of Animal Health [online] (cited 18 Oct 2002) <http://www.noah.co.uk/> (2002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Health Consultants at Wood Mackenzie, Kintore House, 74–77 Queen Street, EH2 4NS, Edinburgh, UK

    Tim Evans & Nigel Chapple

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  1. Tim Evans
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  2. Nigel Chapple
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Wood Mackenzie Animal Health

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Evans, T., Chapple, N. The animal health market. Nat Rev Drug Discov 1, 937–938 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd975

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