Pharmaceutical Industry Flocking to the Animal Medicine Market

On the afternoon of the 10th, in a conference room on the 7th floor of the Yuyu Pharmaceutical headquarters building in Jung-gu, Seoul, a 'gyareureung' sound could be heard. This conference room, called the 'Goyang Room,' is 'permanently inhabited' by two cats. Employees come and go, playing with the cats or doing simple tasks while listening to the 'gyareureung' sounds. A company official explained, "About two years ago, when we began seriously discussing entering the pet industry, we converted an existing conference room into the Goyang Room. We believe that if employees develop affection by interacting with animals in their daily lives, they will be more sincere and proactive in the animal pharmaceutical business."

The 'Cat Room' located on the 7th floor of the Yuyu Pharmaceutical headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. Yuyu Pharmaceutical

According to industry sources on the 11th, domestic pharmaceutical companies that previously focused on portfolios centered on prescription drugs have recently been entering the animal pharmaceutical industry one after another. Yuyu Pharmaceutical is one of them. Recently, Yuyu Pharmaceutical invested a total of 1.24 billion KRW in VETMAB BIOSCIENCES, a company developing new animal drugs, and 'DOG PPL,' a community service exclusively for pet dogs. At last month's shareholders' meeting, the company added the manufacturing and sales of animal pharmaceuticals, animal quasi-drugs, animal health functional foods, and pet products to its business objectives. They also newly appointed Professor Choi Kang-seok, a veterinary infectious disease expert who served as the head of the Disease Diagnosis Center at Seoul National University College of Veterinary Medicine, as an outside director.

GreenVet, a pet healthcare company under GC Green Cross Holdings, established a 'Vet Commerce Team' in January to exclusively provide animal healthcare solutions to veterinarians and is pursuing partnerships with companies in various fields such as animal pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, feed, and medical supplies. Dong-A Pharmaceutical also launched 'Vetple Lactodental,' a probiotic for pet gut and oral health, last month under its pet healthcare brand Vetple. Yuhan Corporation signed a sales agreement in February this year with License Medical for pet skin disease treatment medical devices 'VetEase' and 'Vexohill.'

Dongkook Pharmaceutical released 'Canidol Tablets,' a periodontal disease treatment for dogs distributed through pharmacies, based on 'Insadol' last year. Joah Pharmaceutical, which declared its entry into the animal pharmaceutical business last year, is preparing to launch a new product exclusively for pharmacies in May or June. Additionally, Chong Kun Dang, Dong Wha Pharmaceutical, Samil Pharmaceutical, and Samjin Pharmaceutical are also known to be currently engaged in the animal pharmaceutical business.

The reason pharmaceutical companies are putting so much effort into the animal pharmaceutical market is because they see the market outlook as very promising. A pharmaceutical industry official said, "The number of households raising pets continues to increase, and the ways of caring for pets are becoming more sophisticated, so we believe the demand for animal pharmaceuticals will continue to grow. Also, since the threshold for entering the business is somewhat low because products can be launched after completing only the relatively less costly animal testing stage, this trend seems to be influenced by that as well."

According to the Korea Animal Pharmaceutical Association, the domestic animal pharmaceutical market size in 2022 was 1.4313 trillion KRW, growing 5.1% compared to the previous year. The global animal pharmaceutical market size is expected to surge 2.6 times from 39 trillion KRW in 2021 to 103 trillion KRW by 2031. The government is also accelerating support for the development of the animal pharmaceutical industry. On the 2nd, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the 'Animal Pharmaceutical Industry Development Plan,' aiming to expand the animal pharmaceutical industry size to 4 trillion KRW and increase exports to 1.5 trillion KRW by 2035.