Their safety record isn't even tracked by the government, meaning it's impossible for consumers to make informed decisions.Īnd when animals die, the companies don't have to shell out big legal settlements. Some drugs aren't even approved for animal use but are commonly prescribed to animals. The drug-development process for pet medicines is far shorter than for human drugs, which cuts costs but increases the health risks to the animals, several epidemiologists and statisticians told The Star.Once these drugs are released on the market, there are few checks on company claims of product safety. Yet the pace of change is raising safety concerns among thousands of pet owners, consumer groups and some veterinarians across the country. This year, Lilly said it would pay $5 billion to acquire Novartis' animal medicine, which would make Lilly the animal health industry's second-largest player. Last year, the third-biggest initial public offering on Wall Street was a pet medicine company, Zoetis, a spinoff from drug giant Pfizer. They told the story of an industry that is looking for ways to shore up declining revenues from human drugs, repurposing molecules that had an array of original uses for people and crops, and pushing government officials to speed up the approval process. The Star examined public records, studies and drug reaction data, and conducted interviews with company officials, pet owners, scientists, lawyers, epidemiologists, regulators and veterinarians. Yet, in the first examination by a major news organization of one of the fastest-growing segments of the pharmaceutical industry, The Star found an industry far different from the human drug market, one with higher risk of unforeseen side effects, a legal arena that offers little protection to pet owners and marketing tactics that have been eliminated from the human drug market. It said such complaints are so infrequent that it has received less than one reported death for every 10,000 doses it sold, which is considered "very rare," according to standards published by the Council of International Organizations of Medical Sciences. The company said it completed a "thorough review and analysis" earlier this year of all reports it received from pet owners and found "no established link between Trifexis use and death." For any given (Adverse Drug Event) report, there is no certainty that the reported drug caused the adverse event."
In a prepared statement, Elanco told The Indianapolis Star: "It's critically important to understand that reports are not an indication of cause. The companies insist their drugs are safe.
Not from the FDA, whose job it is to ensure drug safety.
To such questions, pet owners simply can't get an independent answer. But did Trifexis kill Peaches? Ramsey? Rocky? What is the risk of it - or of other pet medicines - killing your dog or cat?