This series examined the fast-growing, secretive world of pet medicines — how they are riskier, cheaper and quicker to develop than human medicines, and how some pharmaceutical companies are moving aggressively into this specialized, under-regulated world to cushion the blow of declining revenues from human medicines. What we found: Unlike the world of human medicine, which has undergone numerous reforms in the past decade to provide for greater transparency and to reduce conflicts, we found that veterinarians, researchers and drug companies are free to work closely together, with little to no disclosure of gifts, grants and fees. We found that pet medicines offer a higher risk of unforeseen side effects than human medicines. We found a legal arena that offers little protection to pet owners, and marketing tactics that have been eliminated from the human drug market.
