GekeVenn: ZOETIS

Zoetis began in 2013 as a spinoff of Pfizer's menagerie of acquisitions then known as Pfizer Animal Health. Its components included the former Norden Laboratories, Pharmacia, Embrew, Catapult Genetics, Bovigen, Wyeth, Fort Dodge Animal Health, Vetnex, Synbiotics, Microtek, Alpharma, and King Pharmaceuticals. Pershing Square Capital initially took an 8.5 percent stake in the company that was later sold in 2016.

And Zoetis is one of those companies that enjoys the ultimate privilege, a government mandate that we purchase pet vaccines. The company produces a rabies vaccine called Defensor and a feline leukemia vaccine called Leukocell. The company has also developed a drug called SILEO for dogs experiencing noise aversion and anxiety.

The company is also building a research and manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China. According to Business Wire, “The new facility will focus on development and production of quality vaccines for swine, cattle, fish and companion animals that help protect against the strains of diseases prevalent in China. Zoetis also marked the opening of an interim research and development facility nearby in Suzhou where the company’s PHARMAQ business will begin to develop vaccines for the farmed fish industry in China; the first such R&D center established by a multinational company to concentrate on aquaculture in mainland China.”