If you are what you eat, then the health of animals is inseparable from your health as well as the state of our planet. As global demand for animal-derived food products continues to surge, the well-being of livestock has become a global priority.
“This is an exciting time to be in animal health, specifically farm animal health,” said Katie Cook, vice president, farm animal sustainability, Elanco Animal Health.
“The demand for animal protein is growing. As one example, dairy consumption reached record highs in 2023, as Americans increased their consumption of butter, cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt. With this increasing demand, there are innovations happening at every step of the supply chain to meet this growing demand and consumer expectations.”
With healthy animals, we can expect safer, more high-quality food. Healthy animals are also stronger and less vulnerable to disease outbreaks that can threaten entire food systems and economies.
“Animal disease doesn’t just compromise animal health and welfare; it also increases food costs, decreases supply and extends the use of resources,” said Cook.
However, the animal health sector today faces a multitude of complex and interconnected challenges such as the relentless spread of transboundary diseases and the misuse of antibiotics leading to antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
“Animal diseases know no borders. Whether affecting livestock, wildlife or aquatic species, their impact can be devastating — threatening livelihoods, public health, food supply chains, international trade and biodiversity,” said Dr Emmanuelle Soubeyran, Director General of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in the 2025 State of the World’s Animal Health report.
The boundaries are also disappearing for the diseases themselves. There are rising concerns of zoonotic diseases – the spread of disease from animals to humans – which further pressures the sectors to provide livestock with better care.
Despite the critical issues that need to be addressed, the sector still experiences constraints in terms of resources.
“More than 75% of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals. However, the animal health sector is still underfunded, leading to critical shortages in the veterinary workforce, medicines and vaccines and gaps in disease surveillance,” said Dr Javier Yugueros-Marcos, Head of the Antimicrobial Resistance and Veterinary Products Department, WOAH.
Ultimately, protecting animal health also supports human wellbeing and helps safeguard the environment."
As the global authority on animal health, WOAH promotes the One Health approach, which considers that human, animal, and plant health are interconnected.
“Over the past few years, one of the most significant shifts in animal health has been the growing recognition of its central role in broader global challenges – including public health, climate change and food security. The interconnection between animal, human, and environmental health – what we call the One Health approach – is no longer a theoretical concept, but a practical necessity,” said Yugueros-Marcos.
“We’ve seen increased international focus on the emergence and spread of transboundary animal diseases, with emphasis on early detection, surveillance and coordinated response. This is particularly evident in the wake of zoonotic outbreaks and rising concerns around antimicrobial resistance.”
Today, animal health innovations span vaccines, diagnostics, nutrition, data-driven monitoring, and even emission reduction. There are explorations to the impact of the microbiome and cutting-edge technology such as bacteriophages. Together, they are driving critical improvements on how animals are raised to ensure a more secure and resilient food supply for our future.
Microbiome in animal health: Looking into the gut
Microbiome science is a highly significant and actively emerging space within animal health. A healthy microbiome is often discussed as a cornerstone to animal health and sustainable production. Prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics have been touted as solutions to complex challenges, including methane reduction from cattle.
Research into animal gut microbiome is a major area of research and innovation. The scientific community has confirmed that it plays a fundamental role in physiology and health. It plays a vital role in pathogen defence and is closely linked to immunity and stress in animals, making it important to animal welfare.
Notably, it is considered a powerful tool in addressing AMR, a major threat to global health. WOAH considers AMR “one of the greatest threats”, compromising the health of millions of people. By 2050, AMR is projected to jeopardise the food security of two billion people and result in a US$ 100 trillion economic loss if urgent action is not taken.
One study has demonstrated that combining probiotics and postbiotics with vaccination can enhance vaccine efficacy in chickens. This approach has shown promising results in boosting immune responses and potentially improving overall poultry health.
The findings suggested that a multi-pronged approach of vaccination in combination with probiotics and postbiotics could improve poultry health and productivity, ultimately reducing reliance on antibiotics.
Pioneering biotech firm BiomEdit has engineered BE-101, a probiotic that combats necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens.
Aaron Schacht, CEO of BiomEdit, previously told AgTechNavigator that current tools only suppress outbreaks without eliminating the underlying threat. BE-101 expresses the antibodies that neutralise toxins produced by Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) bacteria that is responsible for the damaging effects of necrotic enteritis.
“Here’s how it typically unfolds: when the gut is stressed — often due to coccidiosis — a normally harmless organism called C. perfringens, commonly found in the gut or environment of poultry, can become pathogenic. It shifts from a passive presence to an aggressive one, producing toxins that damage intestinal cells. When we designed BE-101, we aimed to target two key aspects: The gut stressor, primarily coccidiosis and the opportunistic pathogen, C. perfringens,” explained Schacht.
Gut health is also being address in swine health. AgTechNavigator has reported on a yeast-based oral delivery system, which act as “protective suitcases” to deliver vaccines, peptides, minerals, and amino acids directly to the gastrointestinal tract to preserve gut health.
While the potential of these technologies is exciting, the reality is that farmers may not feel the same way, said Lee Songhao, founder of EvoVet, a veterinary consultancy. Speaking to this publication, Lee drew from his own experiences as a swine veterinarian in Hong Kong.
“In Hong Kong, most of these farmers are smallholders. The biggest challenge for them is cost and how they were going to pay for these feed additives. Then you have the bigger farms that would love to use these products, but of course, there’s the question of efficacy and the need for more trials,” said Lee, who is also a venture capitalist.
Regardless, there is a growing understanding of gut health and its wider implications for disease prevention.
Cook said: “Nutritional health is also evolving daily as our industry learns more about how the intestinal system interacts with other body parts — it allows us to use nutrition to fight and prevent disease. However, there is still much to learn in this area as the microbiome of the gastrointestinal system, or gut microorganisms, is highly complex.”
Diseases: Stronger, faster, more resistant
Today’s science has never been more advanced, and the technology more sophisticated. Yet diseases continue to adapt, outpacing even the best defences. Not only are existing diseases getting stronger and more resistance, but newer and more formidable diseases are emerging faster than ever.
“Today, diseases are spreading faster and hitting harder than ever before. A combination of factors – from climate change to increased global trade and ever-shifting pathogens – is creating the perfect conditions for them to emerge and spread,” said Yugueros-Marcos.
“Notably, the world is grappling with a deadly wave of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI). Over the last 20 years, more than 633 million birds have been lost to the disease. But birds are not the only species which were affected. The virus has been detected in mammals such as foxes, dolphins, bears and even domestic pets.”
Between January 2024 and April 2025, there have been 3,513 outbreaks of HPAI, causing 82.1 million losses in poultry. WOAH has described HPAI’s global spread to be “unprecedented”. It has led to a severe economic fallout, with major disruptions in international trade, affecting local poultry industries, and consumers of poultry products.
While strict biosecurity measures and active surveillance are essential in maintaining outbreaks, the relentless spread of HPAI underscores the importance of vaccination to combat this severe issue, Julian Madeley, director general of the World Egg Organisation (WEO) told the WOAH.
“We have seen that robust biosecurity protocols and controls can reduce the risk of disease. We have also seen egg farms with excellent biosecurity suffer from disease outbreaks. The rapidly changing nature of this virus means that existing prevention and control strategies are no longer enough. Now egg farmers need proper access to effective and practicable avian influenza vaccination programmes as an additional tool.”
WOAH considers vaccination a key element of disease prevention and control. In October 2023, France implemented a nationwide vaccination campaign against HPAI in ducks, which benefited not the entire poultry industry. As a result, the country suffered 10 outbreaks, when a model by the Toulouse Veterinary School estimating up to 700 outbreaks that year.
Another devasting disease is African swine fever (ASF). ASF has spread relentlessly across the globe, sometimes wiping out entire herds. From 2018 to 2019, China lost an estimated 40% of its total pig population, causing massive economic disruptions and threatening global pork supply. Between January 2024 and April 2025, there have been 6, 807 outbreaks of ASF and it has resulted in 222,174 losses in domestic pigs.
WOAH said ASF vaccine development has been cautiously optimistic. Its report highlighted live-attenuated vaccines, which involve using weakened forms of the virus to trigger immunity, as the most promising.
At the forefront of vaccine development is Vietnam, which has been the first to commercially produce and export a vaccine, developed by AVAC Vietnam. According to a report published by Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, AVAC has supplied over 3.5 million doses of the vaccine, of which 3 million doses have been used domestically.
AMR: When treatments become the trouble
AMR occurs when diseases no longer respond to antimicrobial medication. According to WOAH, AMR stands to threaten the food security of two billion people by 2050 — and cost global GPD losses up to US$ 5.2 trillion if urgent action is not taken.
“The threat of drug-resistant infections to human health is widely recognised but the impact of AMR on the health of animals, our environment and our economy cannot be overlooked. On top of the drastic human death toll, drug-resistant pathogens can also severely impact animal health and welfare. It creates huge strains on the economy as well as on our sustainable development efforts. For the first time, we have an idea of exactly what’s at stake unless the global community takes urgent action now,” said Soubeyran.
Furthermore, there is growing consumer awareness and pressure to control antimicrobial use.
“The demand for safe, affordable and nutritious protein continues to grow. At the same time, consumers are more informed than ever, and they want to know the food they buy is healthy, safe, sustainable, and responsibly produced,” said Cook.
According to WOAH analysis, if antimicrobial use decreases by 30%, it could boost global GDP by US$120 billion between 2025 and 2050. Yugueros-Marcos believes this goal is achievable.
“This goal is within reach as countries that ban antimicrobial use for growth promotion in livestock already use about 45% less than those that allow it.”
The latest WOAH numbers have indeed seen an overall decrease in antimicrobial use globally. However, the pace of reduction has actually been slowing.
“Even though analysis over time shows a global 5% decrease in the indicator used to track trends among the 85 participants who have consistently provided data from 2020 to 2022, we observe a significant slowdown on the reduction of antimicrobials in animals, as previous analyses showed figures in the range of 20 to 30% reduction,” said Yugueros-Marcos.
He added that WOAH’s latest numbers are limited and stressed greater participation in order to get better data on antimicrobial use. He highlighted the numbers that showed antimicrobial use in the Middle East increasing by 43%, which may seem dramatic but the impact was actually minimal.
“While this increase in the Middle East may seem significant, its impact on the overall global trend is actually the lowest, representing only 0.3% of the global biomass and 0.04% of the global quantities reported.
“For us, this figure shows the work to be done to get reliable quantitative data from major countries, as it must be noted that this report’s current participants only cover 17% of the region’s animal biomass. Thus, broader participation is urgently needed to enhance the accuracy and reliability of regional estimates.”Currently, WOAH advises that the best defence against AMR are vaccinations, as reducing the incidence of infectious diseases will in turn decrease reliance on antibiotics.
It is important to note that when used responsibly, antimicrobials are not harmful — in fact, they play a vital role in protecting animal health and food safety. Elanco, which also adheres to the OneHealth approach, sees advancing antimicrobial stewardship plans as part of the equation.
“Antibiotics are critical to maintaining human and animal health and welfare, while simultaneously encouraging greater innovation to protect the long-term effectiveness of antibiotics. Our portfolio today includes vaccines, nutritional strategies, and management practices—that keep animals healthy and, in some cases, reduce the need for medically important antimicrobials,” said Cook.
Animal health: Important yet under-invested?
According to Pitchbook data, deal activity in the sector has declined across the last six years. In 2019, global deal value was US$192.1m. It surged to US$402.1m in 2022 from US$159m in 2021 before declining to US$107m in 2023. In 2024, total deal value was $83.3m.
“This is a sector that is underdeveloped in terms of venture investment. You won’t see many specialty investors in this sector. You won’t see many dedicated venture funds. Instead, you would see very active corporate venture arms… in the adjacent sector of feed and feed additives,” said Isabelle Decitre, founder of ID Capital, a venture capital investment company based in Singapore.
Even funding in areas like AMR, which is extremely important to global health and the economy, remains all too low.
“Despite commitments announced in the 79th United Nations General Assembly political declaration on AMR, clearly stating to meaningfully reduce the use of antimicrobials in animals, to use them only for responsible purposes, and ensuring vaccination strategies are implemented, innovation in animal health is significantly underfunded,” said Yugueros-Marcos.
“The AMR R&D Hub estimates that only 7% of total funding allocated to R&D on AMR is dedicated to animal health. The STAR-IDAZ Consortium sets a priority research and innovation agenda on alternatives to antimicrobials. Without associated funding, this will be impossible to implement.”
On the bright side, Gregorio Torres, head of the science department at WOAH, is observing more investment into animal health research.
“In terms of the future or the trends we are observing, we also see a lot of investment in research and development. Countries are mobilising money and resources to invest in universities focused on health. And not only developing fancy products or vaccines for a small group of people,.”
Decitre told us that venture investors tend to consider animal health a “slow and steady” kind of sector, with limited exit opportunities.
“If you compare it to human health, where you have multiple things that play in the favour of human versus animal, you have higher margins. You have more of a platform potential. But usually when you develop an innovation for one animal, it doesn’t cross to the other species.”
Furthermore, there are the insurmountable barriers of regulation and long, expensive growth timelines.
“It’s not a highly invested sector, in my opinion, but that doesn’t mean there is no potential. But it’s perceived as a lower return market, just because you have four or five firms dominating the market,” said Decitre.She added that she has not found any start-ups that have given her a good proposition.
“If you’re looking for functional feed additives, the big companies will take care of it. The don’t need a startup to come up with the solutions. And if a startup does have a solution, they won’t have the muscle to go through the extensive testing phase and deal with the regulations, and then distribution. In the end, they will become an outsourced solution – which is what we would encourage – but I don’t want to be an investor in this, because there is no big upside.”
That said, some innovations have caught the eye of both Decitre and Lee, such as bacteriophages.
These microscopic viruses target and kill specific bacteria, making them a promising alternative to antibiotics in the fight against AMR. As reported by AgTechNavigator, only a few companies have taken phages to market such as Phagelux Agrihealth, PhageLab, and Proteon Pharmaceuticals.
“I look at solutions that would not be typical. Things that are not vaccines, things that are not heavily regulated, things that don’t require a cold cain. Because as soon as you look into pure animal health solutions, you need the logistics, you need to understand the regulatory pathway – that is not for me,” said Decitre.
Another potential solution against diseases lies in genetics and the potential to tweak them and make animals stronger. In livestock farming, especially in pigs, genetics are key, which is why there is so much interest in a rather controversial solution.
“Gene editing holds a lot of promise for the swine industry, especially when it comes to managing disease, but it’s also a space full of ethical concerns and heavy regulations. Not every country accepts gene-edited animals, and trade barriers can complicate things even further,” said Lee.
“Take porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, for example—also known as PRRS. In Germany, researchers have used gene editing to develop pigs resistant to this disease. That’s a huge step forward. I’ve seen the impact of these diseases firsthand: young piglets coughing, falling sick, dying. The spread is rampant and devastating. Sometimes whole herds have to be culled.
“Having pigs with built-in disease resistance would be a massive help to the industry. But whether or not we can implement that depends heavily on national regulations.”
Today, pig farmers improve their herds by bringing in pigs from companies like Pig Improvement Company (PIC).
“That’s why companies in this space are not just focusing on disease resistance but also traits like better feed conversion. Genomic testing is also gaining traction. What I’m describing is the practical reality of how gene editing and genetics play into modern swine production,” said Lee.
Another area that has become import is methane-reduction due to the urgent need to tackle climate change and meet sustainability goals in agriculture. Elanco, for instance, sees this as a huge opportunity. It helps farmers and ranchers do this with practical, science-based tools that not only cut emissions but also help them track and benefit from their progress.
“We offer a broad toolbox of innovations and interventions to empower cattle farmers to reduce emissions on their farms, with feed ingredients like Bovaer. We are also committed to helping customers understand the value of their efforts at the farm level, so we’ve developed tools that allow farmers to measure their on-farm environmental footprint, implement an on-farm environmental solution, and quantify their improvements, ultimately allowing them to capture value for their efforts,” said Cook.
In June, AgriZeroNZ, a public-private partnership focused on helping farmers cut emissions, invested in two start-ups that aim to reduce cattle methane emissions.
“The major customers who buy our agriculture exports out of New Zealand have set very ambitious Scope 3 targets… We know our trading partners are also watching, and that’s why methane and nitrous oxide are two key issues that we are trying to solve,” said head of ventures, David Macdonald.
In the future, there will be a greater shift to toward more data-driven and evidence-based decision-making. It also underscores the need for better data collection systems and digital infrastructure to support ongoing monitoring and rapid response.
“With the release of the first State of the World’s Animal Health report, we now have a clearer, more objective understanding of disease trends, veterinary capacity gaps and the impact of current interventions. This transparency is helping policymakers and practitioners take more targeted, effective action,” said Yugueros-Marcos.
Animal health sits at the crossroads of global challenges — food security, public health, climate resilience and economic stability. While scientific innovation is advancing at pace, from microbiome breakthroughs to emission-reducing feed and precision vaccines, the sector remains under-resourced and under-invested. Greater cross-sector collaboration, funding, and regulatory alignment will be critical in turning the promise of innovation into real-world impact.