The American Kennel Club and Pfizer are going to partner on dog research.
How perfect is that?
The AKC makes diseased and defective dogs, and Pfizer makes medications to treat the same.
And of course, the AKC also sells pet insurance so that pet owners can afford to buy all those Pfizer medicines that are needed to treat the diseased and defective dogs that are being cranked out by AKC breeders.
As the press release notes:
The partnership might also help Pfizer curry favor with veterinarians and win loyalty to brands such as its Vanguard vaccine against distemper and other viruses.
Medicines for pets and livestock have become a hot area for huge pharmaceutical companies trying to diversify in an effort to combat the potential loss of billions in annual revenue as their blockbuster drugs get cheaper generic competition.
Treatments for pets are particularly appealing because they rarely face generic competition and prices are not negotiated down by insurance companies and government health programs, as with drugs for people. In addition, global sales of animal drugs and vaccines have been rising at a steady rate of 5 percent a year, partly fueled by bigger livestock herds as the growing middle class in emerging markets eats more meat.
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3 comments:
Fight back, adopt a mixed breed dog, get a grown dog whose health can be tested instead of puppy whose health problems might not yet be detectable, or be very careful in selecting a breeder who has rejected unhealthy breeds and unhealthy breeding stock and who breeds older dogs.
Generics are out there, but it requires a knowledge of mathemetics and appropriate dosing requirements, as well as the ability to tell the vet "No I do NOT want this product and here's why!"
Between livestock catalogs and online vet sites, I'm pretty happy with what's available.
Unfortunately the AKC closed book breeding is affecting the mixed breeds too. I had a pit bull/shar pei cross from the local shelter and she still died at 6 years. My vet later told me that because the shar pei breed was so badly inbred that the outcross wasn't enough to prevent her from suffering from the problems innate in her oriental heritage. A damned shame too. A very nice dog doomed by man's tampering.
Debi and the Texas JRTs
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