Dechra Pharmaceuticals invests in animal pain relief developer

Dechra Pharmaceuticals on Friday struck a long term deal to license an ethical pain relief product in all markets outside of Australia and New Zealand and acquired a 33% stake in the manufacturer, Medical Ethics.

The FTSE 250 company will spend A$18m on the stake, of which half will be in new equity and the remainder in stock from current shareholders of the Australia based Medical Ethics, whose subsidiary Animal Ethics is developing ethical pain relief products in animal health.

Animal Ethics has developed a product called Tri-Solfen, which is given to improve animal welfare by reducing pain in farm animals during routine treatments such as castration, tail docking, debudding and dehorning - initially with a focus on sheep, pigs and cattle but with opportunities seen for horses and household pets.

Tri-Solfen is a topical product that is sprayed onto a wound and anaesthetises, relieves pain, controls bleeding and protects against infection.

Currently approved in Australia for use on sheep, the product is making annualised sales of A$4m.

The development process is underway to register the product in global markets, with initial focus being for pigs in Europe and pigs and cattle in the US; the first registrations are targeted for approval in 2020.

Dechra chief executive Ian Page said the company had been in dialogue with Animal Ethics for a number of years.

"Once approved for major markets, Tri-Solfen significantly strengthens our FAP portfolio, will further our geographical expansion strategy and will enhance Dechra's reputation of providing clinically necessary, high quality, ethical veterinary pharmaceuticals."