Virbac is a French company dedicated to

animal health Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

located in Carros, near Nice. It was founded in 1968 by veterinarian Pierre-Richard Dick. The company is the 6th the largest veterinarian pharmaceutical group with a turnover of 948 million euros in 2020 (59% companion animal and 41% food producing animal). The company is a limited company with a board Euronext Paris stock exchange - compartiment A and is part of the reference index: SBF 120, and eligible SRD, PEA and PEA-PME.

History

Veterinarians Pierre-Richard Dick and Max Rombi founded Virbac (acronym of ''vir''ology and ''bac''teriology) in 1968 as a veterinary office in the Cap 3000 mall in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

. The office was sold two years later, after which Dick and Rombi focussed on animal drugs for pets, distinguishing Virbac from large veterinary pharmaceutical companies that specialised in livestock. At the end of the 1970s, Rombi began the subsidiary Arkovet, from where he developed Arkopharma, specialising in phyto- and nutrition therapy.

International growth

Virbac went international in 1970 with the establishment of offices in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Subsidiaries followed in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(1982),

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

(1986),

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(1987), Australia (1987), Japan (1992),

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

(1994),

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

(1998), the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

(1999), and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

(2011). Pierre-Richard Dick dies at sea at the age of 55. After his death in 1992, his family decided to keep the company. In January 2015, Virbac finalized the acquisition of two antiparasitic products for 410 million euros from Eli Lilly, which had acquired the veterinary activities of Novartis.

Activities

The company has 4,900 employees and is present in over 100 countries with 33 sales subsidiaries. Its production is located in 10 countries among which France, the US, Mexico, Brazil, Vietnam. It also has eight research and development centers located in the United States, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, France, Vietnam, Taiwan and Australia. It generates nearly 88% of its revenues outside France. Its product range is designed to cover the main pathologies in

companion animals A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence ...

and

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

: internal and external parasiticides (collars and pipettes), antibiotics, vaccines, diagnostic tests,

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

and

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

nutrition, dermatology, dental hygiene, reproductive, aquaculture, anesthesia, geriatrics and electronic identification (

pet A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence ...

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

s, exotic pets…).

References

Virbac group website

2014 annual report
{{Authority control Pharmaceutical companies of France Veterinary medicine companies Pharmaceutical companies established in 1968 1968 establishments in France Companies based in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur French brands Companies listed on Euronext Paris