"Americans recognize the important role of animal medicines, both to extend the quality of length of life for their pets or to keep farm animals healthy and contribute to a safer food supply," said AHI President and CEO Alexander S. Mathews.

"Animal health companies have responded by bringing new and innovative products to the market for both companion animals and farm animals."

Consistent with past years, products for companion animals accounted for approximately 53% of the total.

The three product categories for animal health products are biologics, which increased nearly 12%, pharmaceuticals, with a sales increase of 10% and feed additives with a 5% increase in 2006.

Raw sales data was provided to AHI  by CEESA, a non-profit international association based in Belgium. CEESA collects sales data on the animal health market in Europe as well.

Total sales for the entire US animal health products industry were tabulated based on projections made by AHI using sales data collected from CEESA.

Sales are for products priced at the manufacturer’s level. CEESA reporting companies represent 79% of the US animal health products industry.

Pharmaceuticals
Sales increased by 10%. Estimated sales for the United States market for this category were more than $4.0 billion.

Sales in this category were impacted by continued increases in external and internal parasiticides for companion animals.

Feed aditives
Feed additives sales rose 5.6% in 2006, with sales of $576 million. Nutritional feed additives, principally vitamins and minerals, are not included in these estimates.

New product introductions along with price stability contributed to the increase.

Biologicals
This category includes sales of products used to create immunity to disease in both livestock and pets. Biologicals include vaccines, bacterins and antitoxins licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Sales in this category show a gain of 12% in 2006. Sales increased in nearly every species, led by dogs and cats.