(Saint Petersburg, FL - July 12, 2011)

There are currently more than 86 million cats and 78 million dogs in the United States. Hence, the market for pet products is amongst the most lucrative of any category. Combine the pet category with health care, and the formula can equal huge success for many manufacturers of these regulated products.

The prescription drug market for pets has been dominated by the big dogs such as Pfizer and Merck. However, a number of other companies are now developing generic pet drugs as many innovator products have recently come off or are soon to come off patent.

Why would these companies develop the less profitable generic versions? Well, with a very, very limited number of FDA's resources dedicated to the agency's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), a company developing a new drug for the first time could wait literally years for government approval. The application process for a generic is typically much shorter and therefore, potentially much less costly. According to Jonathan Lewis, Principal at Advanced Biomedical Consulting, a leading FDA compliance consulting firm, in addition to the "typical" approval route for generics, there are several other regulatory pathways specific to drugs used for pets that companies should explore when considering manufacturing a product. Several of these pathways are rarely published in detail by the agency and hence, seldom discovered by pet drug manufacturers and marketers.

Lewis states that consumers and industry alike should be prepared to see a significant influx of generic and other drug types for pets in the near future. This will increase competition in the market which could mean a significant savings on pet-related remedies.

 (Saint Petersburg, FL - July 12, 2011)