Animal Health News and Notes · July 24, 2026
CVS Expands Into Pet Medications
Editor: Christine Merle DVM, MBA, CVPM
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Earnings News:
- Nestle Purina announced its half-year results for 2026 with sales of CHF43.109B (US$ 52.902B) representing organic growth of 3.6%. The Petcare category saw organic growth of 2.7% with strength in cat sales noted. (company press releases)
- Virbac announced its second quarter results for 2026 with €768M (US $ 873.1M) for first half of 2026 representing a 7.4% increase over prior year at constant exchange rate and scope. Growth was driven by contributions from its “Supercharge” platform. (company press release)
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US Company News
- CVS Healthannounced the availability of commonly prescribed pet medication at their ~9,000 locations nationwide. (company press release)
- Boerhringer Ingelheim has become a Human-Animal Bond Certified Company from the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) and NAVC. (finance.yahoo.com)
- Marsappointed Christina Ruggiero as North American Regional President for Pet Nutrition business. (company press release)
- A US Court of Appeals for the 10thCircuit reversed a lower court’s 2024 dismissal of claims from KetoNatural Pet Foods against Hill’s Pet Nutrition regarding false statements linking grain-free pet food to canine heart disease. (com)
- Phillips Pet Foodhas named Nick Christensen current president as CEO succeeding Blaine Phillips who will become an executive chairman. (com)
- Banfield Pet Hospitalannounced the expansion of its Optimum Wellness Plans to allow for customization including specialized services. (com)
- VetEvolve, a community of 53 veterinary practices backed by Varsity Healthcare Partners, announced Dr. Laura Pletz as Chief Veterinary Officer. (company press release)
- PetMed Express entered a definitive agreement with an institutional real estate investor for a $37M sale-leaseback of its headquarters and distribution center buildings. (net)
- Buzz Healthand VetHubRx, a veterinary e-prescribing platform, announced a strategic partnership to integrate Buzz Health’s RxCompare pricing infrastructure into the prescribing workflow to allow discount pricing at the point of prescribing and fulfillment. (company press release)
- aiannounced the launch of Sylvester Connect to Care, a client-acquisition program that engages local cat caregivers with ads inviting them to use Sylvester Cat Comfort Check and then book an appointment with a participating veterinary clinic. (company press release)
- Inventory Allyannounced a new integration with NectarVet, a practice management platform (PIMS), allowing for an automation of ordering and managing of a practice’s inventory. (company press release)
- Veterinary Angel Network for Entrepreneurs (VANE) announced its newest portfolio company, PawPay, which works with any pet insurance policy verifying coverage, collecting pet owners’ portion of the bill and paying the clinic immediately. (com)
- Fear Freeappointed Dr. Rebeckah Zahedi as Chief Veterinary Officer. (co)
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Industry Announcements
2026 Animal Health Summit
August 31-September 1, 2026
Location: Midland Theatre | Kansas City, MO
Registration is now open for the 2026 Animal Health Summit.
The Animal Health Summit features two days of networking, 1:1 business partnering, industry thought leaders, panel discussions, speakers and emerging company presentations. Click here to learn more.
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International Company News
- AU – The planned acquisition of Neogen Genomicsby Zoetis is undergoing further antitrust assessments in Australia. (antitrust-intelligence.com)
- CA, EU – Zoetis has launched Portela (relfovetmab) a long -acting anti-nerve growth factor monoclonal antibody therapy for cats to alleviate pain associated with osteoarthritis for up to three months. (company press release)
- GLOBAL – A global survey from dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Healthrevealed that 85% of its over 10,000 samples contained more than one mycotoxin. (com)
- IT – Nestle Purinaannounced a US$ 640M investment into a new wet food facility in Mantova, Italy. (net)
- UK –Elanco has launched Varenzin a treatment to manage feline chronic kidney disease anemia in the United Kingdom. (org)
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Animal Health Industry News
- US – A recent studyin the Journal of Shelter Medicine and Community Animal Health found that veterinarians may positively influence human smoking habits if they discuss the impact of second-hand smoke on their pet’s health. (com)
- US – FDA has launched a pilot program to encourage and strengthen the manufacturing of animal drug products and active ingredients in the United States (government press release)
- US – The Feline Veterinary Medical Association led the inaugural Feline Summit hosted by Butterfly Network and TriviumVet/PRN Pharmacal where industry leaders met to advance the future of feline healthcare. (association press release)
- UK – A recent study explored how dairy farmer and veterinarians perceive and manage tick borne disease risk and how they perceptions guide farm-level actions. (com)
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Brakke Viewpoint
The veterinary clinic pharmacy has gained a new competitor with the announcement that CVS pharmacies are getting into the pet medication business. CVS stores will begin filling prescriptions for many pet products, including parasiticides, dermatology products, pain management, cardio-vascular and several other categories.
There are nearly 35,000 veterinary clinics and only 9,000 CVS stores, so why is this such a big deal? Traffic. A pet owner typically visits her veterinary practice once or a few times a year. She visits her drug store multiple times a month. Plus, at CVS, the pet medications are subject to the same auto-fill and home delivery services that customers get with their own prescriptions. One more thing. Many human drugs are prescribed for pets and those prescriptions are already being filled at the local pharmacy. So, it won’t be the first time many pet owners are picking up scripts at CVS. (I stopped at a large CVS in downtown Chicago this week. The pharmacist was aware of the program but had no training or information about a start date.)
Of course, not everyone shops at CVS. But it will be interesting to see how aggressively CVS pushes its pet medicine initiative. If it’s successful, you can bet real money that Walgreens will follow suit with its 8,000 stores.
No doubt CVS is searching for as many ways as possible to serve customers and bond them to the store. After all, their visits are down, too. Last year Walgreens closed 1,200 stores, CVS about 300. Are pet meds the business boost that will get them back on track?
John Volk, Senior Consultant, Chicago, IL
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Your View
Last week, we asked what you thought about the CMA rule requiring veterinary practices to disclose ownership via signage at the premises and online. An overwhelming 73% of respondents would support this rule, while 17% would not. Only 10% were not sure. Seems like there is an opportunity for practices to adopt this disclosure even if it isn’t a rule.
This week, a simple question: In three years’ time, do you think retail pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens will become meaningful competitors to veterinary practices for pet medications?
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