This opinion was stated by Intervet CEO Ruurd Stolp at last week’s Agri
Vision conference in Noordwijk-aan-Zee, the Netherlands, organised by
Nutreco.
Speaking to an attendance of over 300 people, Stolp told that on average it
takes ‘a minimum of twelve years’ for a EU animal health company to develop a
new product, from intoductory planning to marketing.
In his view, this makes EU animal health companies highly uncompetitive, when
compared to companies elsewhere in the world, for whom it takes 4 to 8 years, he
said.
“We need to take out hurdles,” Stolp continued. “Don’t get me wrong, I think
regulations on animal health products are necessary. I only feel that here in
Europe they might have overdone things a little bit, especially when it comes
down to emerging diseases.”
“Look at countries like China and India; these are regions that harbour a lot
of capable and intelligent people. They can always develop vaccines or medicines
rather quickly.”