Eli Lilly and company will launch a new business group focused on companion animal health. The group, evolving at Lilly for more than seven years, will produce innovative medicines for dogs and cats under the Lilly brand name.
Lilly made the announcement on Sunday at the North American Veterinary conference in Orlando, Florida, just before the inaugural Lilly Lectureship address by noted anthropologist and author Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. The 130-year-old pharmaceutical company concurrently announced a $250,000 endowment to the Centre for the Human-Animal Bond at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine to fund an annual lecture series to support veterinarians' understanding of physiological, psychological and sociological aspects of the human-pet bond.
"Veterinarians are essential allies to the millions of us who experience the human-animal bond," Thomas said during her lecture. "From the very dawn of time until now and well into the future human-animal companionship is at the very core of our instincts not only for mutual survival, but mutually rewarding relationships." Thomas' 2006 book The Old Way: A story of the first people addresses how the skills and customs of early hunter-gatherer humans share much in common with the survival tactics of animals.
In announcing the gift, Eric Graves, director, companion animal health, said it is no coincidence that the company's first announcement focuses on support for the veterinary profession and increasing appreciation of the human-pet bond.
"Supporting the role of veterinarians and enabling them to help pets is at the heart of everything Lilly will do," Graves said. "We intend to become one of companion animal veterinarians' most trusted and valued partners."
Much of that value lies in the rich library of the company's proprietary molecules, which Lilly scientists have been evaluating for pet use over the last seven years, according to Stephen Connell, D V M, manager of technical, academic and consumer services. Companion animal veterinarians also will value the company's emphasis on technical and case management support and its commitment to be a trustworthy and reliable business partner. Elanco Animal Health, the Lilly food animal division, has served livestock veterinary practitioners with distinction since 1954, he added.
"We appreciate that the companion animal sector is a dynamic marketplace, and our value to the profession will be measured by the performance of our products and our people," said Graves, noting that the company's first product introductions are expected within the year, pending approval by the FDA. These medicines will address serious conditions that negatively affect both pet health and the human-pet bond.
"Lilly has an outstanding legacy of success in the fields of human health and food animal care," Alan Beck, Sc.D., director of the Centre for the Human- Animal Bond, told veterinarians in introducing the 2007 Lilly Lectureship. "The human-pet bond and pets as a whole now will benefit from Lilly's proven innovation and support for pet health care professionals."
"Lilly respects the relationships veterinarians have with both their clients and their patients. We join veterinarians as partners and will empower them with a family of innovative products and supportive people all focused on improving pet health and enhancing the human-pet bond," Graves concluded.