Veterinary session

Human and veterinary medicine is based on employing drugs and medical aids. The effects and side effects of pharmaceutical active substances are widely examined in laboratories of research institutes and universities, however, these institutions show little or no interest in participating in the trading with drug or medical aids. In my thesis I compare products used in human and veterinary medicine. I examined the background industry, the legal regulation, the structure of the market, and I carefully studied the marketing activity of these products.

Questionnaires were put together to collect data about how customers select pharmaceutical products as influenced by customer habits and external effects. I collected 287 and 213 questionnaires for veterinary and human drugs, respectively. All questionnaires about drug purchasing gave valuable data. Veterinary and human drug buying customers had an average age of 34 and 38 years, respectively. Data were provided mostly by customers having a university degree (44% and 43%), while most of them were females (72% and 59%). The time lapse between two visits of the medical doctors is in the range of one to six month (65% of asked customers), while that of the veterinary surgeons is in the range of half a year to a year (65%). For purchasing human drugs customers prefer pharmacies, while customers buying veterinary medicaments are also open to alternative purchasing methods. The decision of buying a specific veterinary drug is primarily influenced by the consumer awareness of the product, while in case of human drugs the advice of medical doctors or pharmacists prevail. In both cases customers are aware of the active substances found in the chosen product moreover customers claim that the price of different products with the same active substances is also taken into consideration. The two most well known pharmaceuticals for human drugs, Richter and EGIS are Hungarian companies, while for veterinary use the two well known ones, Bayer and Pfizer are not Hungarian.

There is an existing company which produces both drugs and medical aids for veterinary use and it is also involved in research & development and trading, as well. Still, our data show that human pharmaceuticals own a much larger proportion of drug market than the veterinary ones. Comparing the net sum of trading, veterinary drug and medical aid market account 10 % of the medical one.