Pfizer's pet project Two months ago, drug giant Pfizer (maker of Lipitor and Viagra) achieved a pair of firsts when the FDA approved 2 new products in their pipeline - a weight-loss medication and a new motion sickness drug… For DOGS. Yep, apparently the human drug market just isn't big enough, so Big Pharma is setting its sights on the millions of dogs and cats currently occupying American households. According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, the market for these pet-meds is an impressive one, to - 6 in 10 U.S. households have at least one resident pet
- Americans currently care for 66 million dogs and 78 million cats
- The animal health business grew 5% globally last year to $2.3 billion
- Sales of animal health products in America jumped a full 8% last year (to $6.8 billion) - more than double the rate of growth for our economy as a whole
Several of Big Pharma's biggest players are now starting to take this market very seriously as an outlet for their poisons - er, prescriptions. Pfizer is clearly in the lead, though. The Tribune piece states that the company that brought the world Viagra has as many as 600 researchers with a budget of $270 million earmarked for the development of new animal drugs… That's lot of R&D going on. And they think the market for their newly approved Slentrol drug for canine obesity is huge - more than 17 million American dogs are obese, they claim. But, like with their masters, the key to losing weight for canines under the Stars and Stripes is a proper diet, not drugs. And ironically, that "proper" diet is almost the same for both man and his best friend: Meats, eggs, raw milk, and occasional fruits and vegetables (but for Fido and Kitty, these things should remain uncooked). And in more drug-related pet news… Prozac for pups? Any seasoned or lifelong dog owner has had an experience with a canine - especially a puppy - that deals poorly with its master (caretaker for you PC types) leaving the house. But until recently, everyone just chalked up the barking, whining, pacing, and even chewing of the furniture to normal doggie behavior, something to be lived with and worked through. However, now that the mainstream has attached the term "separation anxiety" to this kind of conduct, they've created a DISORDER than now demands treatment with drugs. These two magic words ("disorder" and "drugs") have summoned Big Pharma to the rescue. According to another recent Chicago Tribune article, Eli Lilly and Co. threw its hat into the pet medication ring last month with the introduction of its "Reconcile" beef-flavored anti-anxiety medication for dogs… And guess what it's based on: PROZAC. Yep, that's right, for just a buck or two a day, you can now feed the same class of medication that has been linked to suicidal behavior in teenaged humans to your anxious "adolescent" dogs! And they call that progress… | 
