Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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David Westenberg: Thank you for taking the question. So, I want to kind of continue with the some on Trio dynamics. Can you talk about maybe if you got any word on in terms of what the label might look like on the competitive launch? And can you give a little bit more color? I think you said in the prepared remarks that you expect it to come from collars and topical. What are you kind of seeing in the marketplace that suggests that as opposed to whether maybe legacy oral parasiticides? And then kind of the second question here is on the increase in R&D spending, are you going to continue to give out some of the €“ what you have in pipeline about €“ I think you guys usually give out six months in advance to Wall Street. Is that kind of still the expectation when you talk about pipeline? And thank you very much.

Kristin Peck: Hi Dave. I will start on Trio and then maybe Wetteny can clarify if there is anything I am missing, and then let me take the R&D question as well. Look, we don’t have any clear signs of what the label of competition will be. We are very confident in our current label. We don’t think it has any holes. I have got to tell you, we are at 100% heartworm protection. So, I am not really sure where you are going to hit us on that. We have also been out on the market now since 2020 with this, which means we have a very strong set of safety data as well. So, I am sure, as always, they will €“ competition will enter and they will try to find any angle they can. But we don’t really think there is any holes in our label right now that we are concerned about.

We are in puppies, if you look back to Simparica. And the second part of your question, look, yes, they will move from single agents. I think they will, single agents from just flea, tick or just heartworm products, I think we will move into the combination label for sure. But we are not expecting pricing to be a big factor initially. And really, that has to do with who is entering, because if they don’t enter the market similarly priced or higher than their current two products, they are going to cannibalize themselves. So, I think really, the power of who is entering does not lead us to believe that price is going to be a major factor and who enters. I mean obviously, we will adapt to whatever comes, whatever label they have, but we remain very confident in our label, in our relationships and in our data today.

But €“ do you want to take the second question, or do you want me?

Wetteny Joseph: Yes. Look, it’s only small addition I will do to Trio is we do get to 100% heartworm after the first dose. So €“ and with the product being in the market almost 3 years and satisfaction levels being very high and penetration across clinics, etcetera, we are very confident on our position as competition enters into the space. On R&D, look, I think unlike human health in animal health is not as much visibility as given with respect to what’s being specifically worked in the pipeline, we see that as a competitive advantage for us given our track record and how we continue to drive innovation in the spaces that we enter. And so we won’t necessarily be changing that significantly here in terms of what we have in here, but we have talked about various aspects of unmet needs that if you were to ask veterinary practitioners, what are the top 5 or 10 unmet needs that they have, I think you would imagine that we are working on all of those areas.

Operator: Our next question comes from Chris Schott from JPMorgan.

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