Better, Faster, Stronger: Animal Health Industry Hones In on Innovation
Veterinary visits are down year over year for a fourth year in a row. The question is why. Maybe this is a symptom of rising veterinary costs. Maybe it’s because some veterinary clients still struggle to access veterinary care because too few veterinary practices are available to serve them, especially in rural locations. Or, perhaps it comes back to that word that rankles consumers across the country: affordability.
Speakers and attendees at the 2026 Veterinary Meeting and Expo (VMX) in Orlando sounded alarm bells over issues of affordability and pet owners’ access to veterinary care. Indeed, affordability has cast a pall over veterinarians’ feelings of optimism in the new year.
Consultants at the 2026 Brakke Industry Overview, presented at VMX, cited affordability as a key pain point for veterinary clients. But every pain point also can offer an opportunity. For savvy, business-minded veterinary professionals, innovations that offer better and more affordable options for veterinary care could be a pathway to increasing veterinary visits.
State of the Industry
Gaze into the murky crystal ball, and the predictions are not all doom and gloom, but they do point to a mixed bag of factors that could shift negatively or positively for veterinary practices. While the decline in office visits continues, revenue remains positive. Data reported by Brakke shows clinics raised prices at a rate two times the rate of inflation, which has helped keep practice ledgers profitable.
But product transactions have declined, and revenue from products is flat as customers scale down their retail and pet product choices; this means pet owners may be reaching for more budget-friendly foods and pet care options.
Practices reported they were not as busy as expected in 2025. About 42 percent of those surveyed reported they could offer same or next-day appointments, compared to 33 percent in 2024. And 42 percent of pet owners cited the high cost of pet food as a significant challenge, according to a January 2025 Packaged Facts survey. In this same survey, 39 percent of pet owners said they face challenges with the high costs of pet health care, up from 36 percent in 2024. When push comes to shove, Brakke research shows cash-strapped clients are most likely to decline diagnostics, non-essential medical procedures and preventive products, says John Volk, senior consultant with Brakke Consulting.
Can the veterinary industry innovate its way out of this challenge to seed a more positive, balanced financial health card? Experts say yes. The key: supporting more early stage innovation.
Once you’ve uncovered an unmet need through research, through talking to the industry and talking to your customers, how do you develop that market? This is the question Jamie Brannan, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Zoetis, posed at an industry panel at the 2026 Brakke Industry Overview.
“Actually driving that need, building that market, education preceding the market, is a huge piece for us as an industry, or as Zoetis, and that’s how I think you expand that market,” he says. “It’s through education, understanding where you need to go, understanding that you’ve got the awareness driving the education, working with the veterinarian but also having an awareness of the pet owner or the producer.”
Opportunities Knock
Brakke cites innovation as a key driver in industry growth, from 12-month injectable parasiticides and long-acting monoclonal antibodies to AI-driven innovation. In the future, Brakke predicts growth through new active ingredients, formulations, delivery systems and technology. When veterinarians were asked what categories would have the greatest impact from innovation in the next five to 10 years, they listed monoclonal antibodies, AI/digital health in clinical practices and diagnostics/imaging as their top three, according to 2025 Brakke research.
“One area many companies like us are looking into is alternatives to antibiotics,” Brannon says. “I think the greatest alternative to antibiotics is prevention. And how we continue to focus on developing all the vaccine franchises, how we execute it from developing those and driving those widely, is going to be really important.”
While AI continues to be viewed with skepticism, AI scribe and cytology tools are making inroads; and veterinarians adding AI tools chose scribe and cytology AI tools first, according to 2025 Brakke research. AI will play a key role in innovation, offering opportunities to sustain growth and protect profit margins, says Bob Jones, CEO of Brakke Consulting.
For example, Brakke cites Boehringer Ingelheim’s digital partnership with Eko Health as a key business development initiative to watch. The partnership leverages BI’s canine cardiology expertise and Eko’s AI-powered stethoscope technology to release a dedicated mobile app in 2026.
Delivery systems are key areas where pet owners’ desires align with growth opportunities. Pet owners are eager for options to make medication delivery easier, according to data from Brakke. Delivery systems garnering attention include innovations that reduce the need to administer pills to cats and dogs, such as long-acting parasiticides and flavor enhancers that make medicines more palatable for pets.
Solutions for pets’ behavior issues rank near the top of pet owners’ unmet needs, according to data reported at the Brakke Industry Overview. Veterinarians reported that a lack of satisfactory solutions exist today for behavior, dermatology (specifically allergic skin disease) and pain management.
To fuel the innovation to meet pet owners’ unmet needs and grow as an industry, Brannon says companies must invest in the right talent.
“You can have the best innovation in the world. If you don’t have the right talent, which is driving innovation, it’s going to be a struggle,” he says. “The bedrock of that is, do you have the right culture? Are you engaging with your folks? Are you making sure you have the right talent programs in place? You need to look at retention but also acquisition, and thinking about it as an industry, what are the capabilities we need as we move forward?”
Innovation in animal health relies on the practical application of new ideas that measurably improve animal health and productivity outcomes, veterinary efficiency and economic sustainability, says Chuck Johnson, DVM, MBA, senior consultant at Brakke Consulting. For an animal health business, it is not just new, more and faster, he says. It must increase sales, reduce cost and save time.
Portia Stewart, a senior companion animal consultant with Curious Plot, is the former team channel director for dvm360 and former editor of Firstline magazine. She spent 19 years working in companion animal health media before joining Curious Plot.