Trifexis and Convenia Mass Hysteria Is Losing Steam (Final Thoughts 2015 Continued)

It seems that as this year has progressed, the smear campaigns of the heartworm and flea preventive, Trifexis, and long acting injectable antibiotic, Convenia, based on emotion, sensationalism, and not science; have died down. Thankfully, with the exception of the minority of conspiracy devotees that will remain steadfastly unconvinced that veterinarians are complicit in a big cover-up of the mortal dangers of these medications to your pets in order to protect Big Pharma and our own profits; good sense and openness to real scientific evidence is winning the misinformation battle.

I find myself no longer having to waste precious lexam room time citing studies and my own in-hospital statistics to refute misinformation that pet owners have gotten online or through social media. The truth is that veterinarians like Convenia simply because it ensures 100% compliance with treatment of infections, overcoming barriers to compliance, such as ability to medicate pets (cats and toy breed dogs can be especially difficult to orally medicate) or owners not completing an antibiotic course seeing an improvement and wanting to save the rest to avoid paying for a veterinary visit the next time an infection may arise.

With regard to Trifexis and other preventives like it, the margin on these medications in the age of an enormous online pet medication retailers that no small business can compete with, is very poor. I could not care less if I sell a box of Trifexis or write a prescription for it. The veterinary brick and mortar pharmacy is increasingly less profitable and is thus shrinking across the board in veterinary clinics and hospitals. It make no sense for us to defend Trifexis over profit or protection of a veterinary pharmaceutical industry that tries to convince us to sell their products, then sell it at a huge bulk discounted rate to large retailers to whom we write a prescription for our clients to go buy it.

Next: The Veterinary Pharmacy Is Dying – So Veterinary Services Are Increasing (Final Thoughts 2015 Continued)