Narrowing the origin of so many animal meds may affect a range of
products.

from Friday:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/07/17/ap6667416.html
>Schering-Plough Corp., the world's No. 18 drugmaker by sales ...
>being acquired by bigger New Jersey neighbor Merck & Co. for $41.1
>billion. They have been working on integration planning and getting
>regulatory approval, and their shareholders will hold separate votes
>on the merger on Aug. 7.
>
>Merck and Schering already have a partnership
> ...
>Also in June, Schering-Plough launched the first vaccine for canine
>influenza, a highly infectious respiratory disease, after getting a
>conditional U.S. license.

What is kept after the merger will depend on factors like market
penetration and consumer appeal combined in consideration with gross
profit minus costs of production, marketing, etc. Sometimes a product
can cost more but have poor market penetration or have high enough
costs that the net profit can actually be lower than for a cheaper
product. It is also very important that the executives realize which
displacements won't work. For example, not all canine products are
appropriate for ferrets so it could be very important for the
executives to know how many units are used by ferrets -- something they
probably don't currently know -- so ferret population numbers become
important. If the fundamentals are not good -- and many companies do
not have the savings they should and have way too much debt -- then the
merger will result in paring of products, production lines, staff, etc.
I don't have time to look up the info on the fundamentals of those
companies.

>ANALYST TAKE: Steve Brozak of WBB Securities says there are only
>three things going on at Schering-Plough right now: "Merger, merger,
>merger." He said employees are all worried about whether they will
>survive as the company goes through "Cost Management 101," closing
>redundant facilities and cutting jobs.
>
>Also key, he says, is what happens in the arbitration with Johnson &
>Johnson over their shared sales of Remicade and Simponi. The
>arbitration could drag on for up to a year.

Merial could be sold away completely instead of remaining with the
merged company:

>Miller Tabak analyst Les Funtleyder wants to know whether Schering's
>animal health business will end up being sold in order to win merger
>approval from antitrust regulators, because Merck has a 50-50
>partnership in the Merial animal medicine business with Sanofi-
>Aventis SA of France.

From July 15th:
http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSTRE56E54820090715
(TWO page article)
>Thanks to two mega-mergers -- Merck & Co's (MRK.N) planned purchase
>of Schering Plough Corp (SGP.N) and the pending merger of Pfizer
>Inc (PFE.N) and Wyeth (WYE.N) -- several animal health assets are
>currently up for sale. The merging companies must divest the assets
>to gain U.S. regulatory approval for their deals.
>
>"Ten years ago, pharma companies looked down their noses at animal
>health. But as growth in human health has slowed, animal health has
>remained stable and is actually growing," said one healthcare
>investment banker.

>Even though the economic crisis has forced some animal owners to give
>up their pets or delay veterinary visits, the sector is still growing
>revenues in the low-teens range, the banker said.
>
>The animal health sector...
>
>remains attractive compared with the stagnant or shrinking sectors of
>the human health field, he said.
>
>A second round of bids for the animal health businesses being divested
>by Merck and Schering Plough are due this week with a final decision
>expected by the end of July, sources familiar with the situation
>previously told Reuters.
>
>Merck is a partner in the Merial joint venture with French drugmaker
>Sanofi-Aventis SA. Merial's products include flea and tick treatments
>for dogs and a medication used to kill parasites in livestock.
>
>Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA), Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N), Bayer AG
>(BAYG.DE), Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) and Boehringer Ingelheim of Germany
>submitted offers in the first round of bidding, sources previously
>told Reuters.

>Schering's largest animal health business, Intervet, generated $1.9
>billion in revenue last year. One complication of the Merck-Schering
>auction is the structure of the sale, the source close to the Merck
>talks said
>
>
>During the first round, bidders were able to submit offers for various
>assets since the sellers had not yet decided which businesses would be
>sold, that source said.
>
>The decision would be made on whether to divest Merck or Schering's
>animal health assets once the companies reviewed the bids, that source
>said.
>
>Pfizer and Wyeth also are divesting animal health assets due to their
>pending $68 billion merger and that auction is expected to conclude by
>the end of the month, as well, said two sources close to those
>negotiations.
>
>"For the bidders, buying an animal health business to add to their
>existing business makes a lot of sense -- you can take out tons of
>costs because the same sales people can now sell more products,"

So, it is actually UNKNOWN who -- after the mergerS -- will wind up
with a range of veterinary product lines, let alone which product
lines will be continued.

Only time will tell, but IT COULD BE IMPORTANT FOR MAJOR FERRET
ORGANIZATIONS TO FOLLOW THESE MERGERS AND ASSET SALES THEN LET ANY
PURCHASERS KNOW HOW LARGE THE FERRET MARKET IS AND WHAT IS USED!

Sorry to shout, but it does not pay to waste time on speculation of
what may go away and when, but instead to spend that time following the
asset auctions as well as what products are retained and which wind up
in partnerships, and then selling the importance and size of the ferret
consumer market to the relevant companies' executives. That might help
prevent loss or production reduction of needed medications.

More that is incredibly recent:
From the 17th:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/07/17/ap6667737.html

>ANALYST TAKE: Miller Tabak analyst Les Funtleyder doesn't expect a
>great report because Merck's first quarter "was not pretty" - profit
>plunged 57 percent, Merck missed expectations and its shares
>nosedived. He says analysts want to hear what's in the pipeline -
>especially from Schering-Plough, which has a better portfolio of
>experimental drugs - to gauge what the companies will do after the
>merger.
>
>WHAT'S AHEAD: Shareholders of Merck and Schering are to meet
>separately on Aug. 7 to vote on the acquisition deal, which would
>combine them into the world's second-largest prescription drugmaker.

<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ikOxZZjJWPCbiLAHqiOydpfy5kgg>

(as of 11 a.m. EST on Saturday):
>EU OKs Pfizer-Wyeth merger
>(AFP) -- 20 hours ago
>BRUSSELS -- The European Commission approved on Friday the proposed 
>merger of US drug manufacturers Pfizer and Wyeth, subject to Pfizer
>renouncing some of its animal health products in Europe. Pfizer,
>already the world's biggest pharmaceutical firm, announced the planned
>merger in January, seeking diversification as it prepares for the
>expiration of patents on its blockbuster drugs.
>
>The merger still awaits a green light from competition authorities in
>the United States, China and other jurisdictions, as well as approval
>from Wyeth shareholders, the statement noted.
>
>Bayer may be among the companies thinking of buying some of the animal

product patents:

<http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/07/08/is-bayer-eyeing-possible-animal-health-assets/>

>Bayer CEO Werner Wenning recently said at an analyst conference that
>the company is interested in expanding its animal health portfolio
>
>Why would Bayer be interested in the sector? According to LBBW analyst
>Karl-Heinz Scheunemann, the animal health market offers strong
>earnings potential and unlike the traditional pharmaceutical industry,
>animal health products are not regulated in terms of price.
>
>Yet Bayer faces numerous hurdles if it wants to complete a deal.
>Tight credit markets may prevent the company from financing a large
>acquisition, meaning Bayer may have to settle for smaller -- but still
>attractive -- assets such as Schering-Plough's vaccine company Intervet
>
>Bayer may face stiff competition for assets. A number of firms have
>expressed interest in animal health assets up for sale.

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2421746/
is partly on value DESTUCTION by mega-pharmas.

[Posted in FML 6398]