Veterinary products

There is a growing market for veterinary medical treatments and drugs to treat animals. The diversity of animal species makes the development of veterinary products a more complicated process than human health technology.

Product lines of the sector include pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical devices and nutritional products for both domestic animals and farm livestock.

In the UK, the pharmaceutical side of the industry is dominated by multinational companies, almost all of which are divisions of human pharmaceutical companies, and the sector is expected to consolidate still further. The South-East is home to the majority of the leading multinational and UK-based pharmaceutical companies in the sector, including Pfizer Animal Health in Kent, Intervet in Buckinghamshire, Elanco in Basingstoke, Fort Dodge in Southampton and Merial in Surrey.

There are only a few veterinary diagnostic manufacturers in the South-East, with Guildhay in Surrey a clear exception, although veterinary product and animal testing services are more common throughout the region. Almost all larger veterinary product providers cater for humans as well as animals, a situation that is unlikely to change as the transmission of diseases (such as bird flu) between animals and humans becomes a greater concern.

Also based in the South-East are some of the world's leading non-commercial animal research institutions such as the UK Government's Veterinary Laboratory Agency in Weybridge, Surrey and two of the three main laboratories of the Institute for Animal Health, which carries out world-leading research into infectious animal diseases.