Leadership in global animal health
Until 2012, Zoetis was a part of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Pfizer’s animal health division had roots back to the 1950s, with livestock products being the focus. From the 1980s, the division was officially named Pfizer Animal Health. Ideas of a spin-off emerged in the early 2010s, leading to the final separation of Pfizer Animal Health from the rest of the company in 2013. The new, independent company named itself Zoetis, a word derived from the zoological term zoetic which means ‘living’ or ‘vital’, and established its headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey. Since then, Zoetis has made several acquisitions, of which the two-billion-dollar deal with Californian company Abaxis has been the largest so far. According to some sources, the global animal health market is currently valued at around 34 billion U.S. dollars, implicating that Zoetis alone holds between one fourth and one fifth of the market. Zoetis’ biggest competitors are Boehringer Ingelheim’s and Merck & Co.’s animal health divisions.Diversified, with moderate pressure
Zoetis’ major product categories consist of vaccines, parasiticides, anti-infectives, and dermatologic products for animals. From a regional point of view, Zoetis is present in many countries, although with different focuses. While, for example, revenues in the United States are clearly dominated by companion animal products, making up over three quarters, it is exactly the other way around in Latin American countries like Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. China is the company’s most important national market outside the United States, generating five percent of Zoetis’ total revenue. Because generic competition in the animal health market does not put the same pressure on companies as in the human health market, R&D spending is significantly lower here. In 2022, Zoetis spent around seven percent of its revenue on research and development. Among pharmaceutical companies focused on human health, this share is mostly at around one fifth of revenues.
