PARSIPPANY, NJ – Zoetis Inc., through a wholly owned subsidiary named Zoetis Bidco, will purchase Tullamore, Ireland-based Nexvet Biopharma, a leading developer of pain management therapies for dogs and cats. The transaction is valued at $85 million, or $6.72 per share.

Nexvet is a biologic therapeutics company with monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies under development for companion animals in pain and other therapeutic areas. The company has research and development operations in Melbourne, Australia, a manufacturing facility in Tullamore, and an office in San Francisco.

“This acquisition is a strategic fit that brings to Zoetis an R&D organization that shares our commitment to industry-leading innovation,” said Dr. Alejandro Bernal, executive vice president and group president, Strategy, Commercial and Business Development at Zoetis. “It will strengthen our R&D pipeline in monoclonal antibodies and help sustain our category leadership in chronic pain management for companion animals, which is an area poised for innovation with new mAb therapies. The transaction demonstrates how we continue to invest to drive innovation and future growth.”

The global market for therapies to treat chronic pain in companion animals is valued at an estimated $400 million a year, according to Zoetis. If approved, Nexvet’s product ranevetmab, a mAb targeting nerve-growth factor (NGF) for treatment of chronic pain associated with osteoarthritis in dogs could be the companion animal industry’s first monoclonal antibody therapy administered monthly by injection for chronic pain, the company said.

Nexvet also is developing frunevetmab, a monoclonal antibody targeting NGF to treat chronic pain associated with osteoarthritis in cats, which represents a new opportunity in feline pain that is underserved today, Zoetis noted.