We hope this is about the animals and not the $$$$!
The world’s largest sellers of drugs, Pfizer Inc., is expanding their business to pet and farm animals. They are developing new treatments for animal diseases, which would help pets and their use of genetic tests would help livestock farmers reduce costs and produce high-quality meat.
“We have the portfolio to become the provider of preference,” said Pfizer’s president of animal health, Juan Ramon Alaix. “It’s a very important space for the future. It’s very exciting, very novel.”
Pfizer has already begun buying several small animal health business. One makes a vaccine for laying chickens, which protects them against various diseased while incubating. Another sells vaccines to prevent infections in farmed fish such as salmon and tilapia. They have also developed the drug Palladia, which is the first cancer medicine for dogs.
The company is already the top provider of genetic testing services for cattle in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. As farmers provide hair or blood samples from an animal, Pfizer labs look for genetic signs that would produce tender meat and be resistant to diseases.
Yikes!
[Image via Glen Watson]