VIRBAC RSA (SOUTH AFRICA)

Virbac RSA is a veterinary pharmaceutical company concerning itself with the warehousing and manufacture of Act 36 liquids, tablets and pesticide products, secondary packaging (where applicable), marketing and distribution of veterinary products. Virbac RSA is one of the few GMP (Good Manufacture Practice) approved veterinary facilities in South Africa and maintains the high standard required by the M.C.C. (Medicine Control Council) and other statutory bodies.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Research into new veterinary products and their development are at the heart of Virbac's R&D missions. Every day throughout the world, 230 men and women devote all their energy to fulfilling clients' needs and creating the products of tomorrow. In France, where the company has its biggest centre, R&D focuses on two main aspects. Firstly, biological R&D which develops biological products (vaccines, interferon’s, etc.) and, secondly, pharmaceutical R&D which develops all kinds of chemical-based pharmacological therapeutic products (anti-infective, internal and external parasiticides, anti-inflammatories, etc.) intended for all species of animal.

Internationally, the skills of the R&D teams are focused on local markets where Virbac is very well represented. In the United States, too, particular attention is being paid to the development of parasiticides and antibiotics for companion animals. In India, the whole range of medicines for food producing animals is a key objective.

VIRBAC'S SPECIALITY

Depending on its size, each centre has multi-disciplinary teams and the latest equipment devoted to the studies needed to demonstrate the quality, harmlessness and effectiveness of the company's products. The regulations, which are ever-present in this sphere of activity, impose strict rules of operation concerning good manufacturing, laboratory and clinical practices and drug monitoring.

The special feature of R&D at Virbac is the integration of regulatory expertise and thus the assumption of responsibility for all the activities involved in setting up and drafting authorisation dossiers in partnership with the Regulatory Matters team. It is thus naturally in charge of technical and scientific exchanges with the veterinary medicine agencies. The complementary nature of this collaboration between the R&D and Regulatory entities is doubtless what best characterises Virbac's special knowledge in development matters.