An even brighter future

Investing in tomorrow
Intervet invests over €100 million a year in Research and Development (R&D) programs. We believe this is not only good business, but advances the boundaries of veterinary medicine. We continuously survey and research the veterinary, farming and food manufacturing industries, as well as maintaining extensive collaboration with veterinarians, farmers and others working in animal healthcare. We combine the insights gained from these endeavours to shape product ranges which offer healthcare professionals the high performance medications needed to deliver effective and timely care.

Global thinking delivers business strength 
We operate 14 R&D sites around the world. Around 15% of the 5,000-plus people we employ are directly involved in creating better treatments for healthcare professionals to work with. The majority of our pharmaceutical research takes place at our laboratories in Germany and France. Antiparasitic, anti-infective discovery and research and development is focused at Schwabenheim in Germany, while specialized pharmaceutical product development is undertaken at Angers in France.

Bacterial, viral and antiparasitic vaccine research is pursued at our Boxmeer facility in The Netherlands, Milton Keynes in the UK, and Millsboro and DeSoto in the USA. Aquatic animal health research takes place at sites in Norway and Singapore. There are several specialized and local sites that support a variety of pharmaceutical and vaccine discovery and R&D programs. We have regulatory affairs specialists at Boxmeer, Schwabenheim, Millsboro and DeSoto. Their job is to shepherd new products from development through the regulatory review process that is applied to all veterinary medicines before they can be approved for commercial use.

Opportunities to grow
Our continuing efforts to improve our offer to those working in the animal healthcare profession have produced a gratifying effect on our business. Intervet bolstered its strong presence in its core market segments of vaccines and pharmaceuticals, with both areas achieving equally strong growth. We have maintained a stable flow of product innovations over the years, and 2006 was no exception. We acquired Bayer’s Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine factory in Cologne, Germany, strengthening our worldwide production and development capacity in that field. This is in line with the strategy to expand our presence in the FMD field, where considerable revenue was realized in 2006. The first phase of an ambitious expansion program in Boxmeer was completed with the opening of a new tissue culture facility that will be used for the production of viral and parasitological antigens, to be used mainly in companion animal vaccines.