Merial has had its performance assessed in a new study into the animal health sector.
Entitled Global animal health market: Emerging markets driving growth, the paper is published by Aarkstore and also examines the activities and successes of Bayer, Schering-Plough and Pfizer.
The report states that the animal health market is "highly concentrated" and that nine "top players" control more than 80 per cent of the entire sector.
"Recent acquisitions of Fort Dodge (Wyeth) by Pfizer and Intervet by Schering-Plough have further consolidated the market," Aarkstore notes.
The company states that growth in the animal health sector has taken place despite the ongoing effects of the global credit crunch.
One of the factors that was deemed to have contributed to this development was animal owners' love for their pets.
In July, Sanofi-aventis announced that it has entered into an agreement with Merck that will see the former purchase the latter's 50 per cent interest in Merial.