Owners are increasingly seeking high-quality veterinary care for their pets. Dogs get cancer at roughly the same rate as humans and the disease accounts for almost half of the deaths of pets over 10 years of age [i].
Vivesto’s product candidate in veterinary oncology use the XR-17 technology platform to facilitate the administration of intravenously delivered active pharmaceutical substances without the addition of solvents such as cremophor. Solvents are a problem as they cause unwanted effects in treated animals. These effects are of such a serious degree that it completely prevents, or limits, the use of certain cancer drugs in veterinary medicine. Vivesto is currently evaluating strategic and commercial options for the company’s assets within the veterinary medicine business. The company sees positive synergistic effects between the development of human drugs and veterinary drugs.
[i] FDA. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/my-dog-has-cancer-what-do-i-need-know
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90 million dogs
There were approximately 90 million dogs in the US 2017 and in Europe the corresponding number was 87,5 million1
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dog insurance is USD 47
In the US, the average monthly cost for a dog insurance is USD 472
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estimated at USD 33 billion
The value of US veterinary services market in 2017 was estimated at USD 33 billion3
1 www.statista.com/statistics
2 https://www.valuepenguin.com/
3 American Pet Products Association
Paccal Vet
Paccal Vet is paclitaxel formulated with Vivesto’s XR-17 technology, which provides a drug that has good solubility without the undesirable effects that traditional formulations containing solvents provide. The development is based on the market-approved drug Apealea, which enables reuse of preclinical data and thus shorter time to market, and on previous studies with Paccal Vet, which generated knowledge regarding safety and efficacy.
A pilot study investigating the effect of Paccal Vet in dogs with hemangiosarcoma and malignant melanoma is planned to start in the second half of 2023.
The veterinary oncology market
The market for pets as a whole is growing in both the US and Europé. The market for veterinary care is also growing in pace with an increased willingness to pay for the care of pets and increasing numbers of pets with animal insurance coverage. There are 90 million dogs in the US and 93 million dogs in the EU in 2021, with approximately 1.5 million dogs developing cancer in each market per year. There are currently few approved drugs for the treatment of cancer in dogs and current paclitaxel formulations are not tolerated by dogs and therefore cannot be used.
The total market for veterinary care for pets was estimated at USD 16 billion in 2019, of which the market for veterinary oncology was estimated at approximately USD 200 million*. Vivesto believes that the company’s product candidate in veterinary oncology, subject to approval, can address a significant market for pet cancer treatment in the US and EU.
* Source: Grand View Research, Companion Animal Health Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report, Dec. 2020