Cat Moms, Dog Dads Reach 6 Million... Pharmaceutical Companies Target Pet Households

About 20% of Households Raise Senior Dogs
Pet Health Care Market Expands

Human Nutritional Supplements and Medicines Now for Animals Too
Daewoong Launches 'Impactamin Pet'... 'Urusa Pet' and 'EZN Pet' Also in Preparation
Kwangdong Transforms 'Gyeongokgo' to 'Gyeonokgo' for Dogs... Ildong Pharmaceutical Also Prepares 'Ildong Pet' Series

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Pharmaceutical companies that used to produce human medicines are increasingly entering the animal medicine and supplement market targeting pets. Attempts are also being made to leverage existing steady-seller brands such as 'Impactamin', 'Urusa', and 'Insadol' to gain a foothold in the market.

This change appears to reflect the recent surge in pet-owning households. According to KB Financial Group Management Research Institute on the 25th, the number of pet-owning households nationwide was estimated to reach 6.04 million as of the end of 2020. In particular, as the environment for raising pets improves, the expected lifespan of pets has also increased, with 19% of dog-owning households living with elderly dogs. Since aging inevitably comes with reduced activity and various diseases, the importance of health management for animals is also being emphasized.

Accordingly, the pet care market is rapidly growing. According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, the pet medicine market is estimated to grow from $10.2 billion in 2019 to $13.7 billion (approximately 18 trillion KRW) by 2027, with an average annual growth rate of about 5.1%.

In particular, recently in Korea, pharmaceutical companies are targeting pet owners by utilizing brands that were popular for humans. Daewoong Pet launched 'Impactamin Pet' yesterday, which converts Daewoong Pharmaceutical's steady-seller supplement Impactamin into a pet supplement. While containing eight types of vitamin B as in Impactamin, additional nutrients were supplemented to suit the characteristics of dogs and cats. Besides this, Daewoong Pet has also filed trademarks for animal-use brands 'Urusa Pet' and 'EZN Pet', derived from the liver function supplement Urusa and the pain reliever 'EZN', respectively.

Additionally, Kwangdong Pharmaceutical launched 'Gyeon(ok)go' in June, a pet dog version of the traditional herbal supplement 'Gyeongokgo'. It is made as a liquid stick type called 'Churu', a natural supplement, to enhance feeding convenience. Ildong Pharmaceutical also released the 'Ildong Pet' series, converting the probiotic 'Biovita' and joint health functional food 'Boswellia' into 'Ildong Pet Biovita' and 'Ildong Pet The Honest Boswellia', respectively, divided for dogs and cats.

Daewoong Pet 'Impactamin Pet' 2 Types (Photo by Daewoong Pet)

Cases of developing drugs originally for humans or animals by switching the target species are also increasing beyond just supplements. Daewoong Pharmaceutical is currently developing 'DWP16001', a diabetic treatment for dogs, by converting 'Enblo' (active ingredient Inavogliflozin), a human diabetes treatment that has completed Phase 3 clinical trials and applied for approval with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, together with Daewoong Pet. Recent researcher clinical trials have confirmed blood sugar control effects when used in combination with insulin for type 1 diabetes in dogs.

GNT Pharma is developing 'Jedacure', a treatment for canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS), as a human drug under the active ingredient name 'Crisdesalazine' for brain diseases such as Alzheimer's dementia and Lou Gehrig's disease. Jedacure is currently sold through Yuhan Corporation, and Crisdesalazine has completed Phase 1 human clinical trials.

Dongkook Pharmaceutical also converted the steady-seller gum medicine Insadol into an animal periodontal disease medicine called 'Canidol'. Both drugs share the same main ingredients: quantified extract of corn silk and 75% ethanol soft extract of Machilus thunbergii. Improvement effects were observed in gingival index and bleeding index in animal clinical trials.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.