Previously reserved for humans, biotech drugs made from genetically engineered living cells are now seen as ripe for the pet health market. The following are some of the recent deals, launches and development projects in the space:

- British animal health company Dechra Pharmaceuticals Inc agreed to a deal https://www.akstonbio.com in August to utilize development work by U.S. insulin specialist Akston Biosciences for a once weekly shot for diabetic dogs to replace daily injections, with a view to expanding the collaboration to cats. Dechra has said long-acting insulin, which is typically produced from genetically modified bacteria, should become its biggest product.

- U.S. animal health company Kindred Biosciences Inc, which repurposed a human antidepressant to stimulate appetite in underweight cats, has several genetically engineered biologic drugs under development https://kindredbio.com/pipeline, targeting diseases such as dermatitis in dogs and anemia in cats.

- German early-stage biotech research firm Adivo in April signed a global collaboration deal https://media.bayer.com/baynews/baynews.nsf/id/Bayer-Animal-Health-and-adivo-sign-global-collaboration-agreement with Bayer's animal health unit a little over a year after Adivo was spun out of human biotech firm Morphosys with a mission to develop antibodies for dogs.

- Privately-held German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim, the global No. 2 in animal health, in April launched https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/press-release/arti-cell-forte-stem-cell-based-veterinary-product the first stem cell-based veterinary medicine to treat lameness in horses caused by inflamed joints, a common worry for both recreational and competitive riders.

- Industry leader Zoetis Inc, which has a successful anti-itch biotech drug for dogs on the market, said https://investor.zoetis.com/sites/zoetis.investorhq.businesswire.com/files/doc_library/file/ZTS_Q2_2019_Corrected_Transcript.pdf in August it was seeking approval for more antibodies, targeting osteoarthritic pain in cats with plans for a 2021 market launch, drawing on its 2017 acquisition of Nexvet Biopharma. A similar product for dogs is also in the pipeline.

- In June of 2018, Zoetis signed a deal https://investor.regeneron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/regeneron-and-zoetis-announce-collaboration-research-antibody with human biotech firm Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc to adopt its antibody technology for animals, targeting inflammatory disease and cancer.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Edited by Bill Berkrot)

By Ludwig Burger