Vetoquinol - Universal Registration Document - 2021

2 Vetoquinol Universal Registration Document 2020 Financial report 53 STATEMENT OF NON-FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE Our products 2.6.3 Organization of Vetoquinol’s scientific division The Group R&D department is geared towards develo- ping new products and its organizational structure is constantly changing in order to improve. The department is currently staffed by 180 employees including around 60 senior scientists. In 2020, total Group expenditure on R&D amounted to €28.4 million or 6.6% of sales. €000 2020 2019 2018 R&D expenditure 28.4 29.9 26.4 % of sales 6.6% 7.6% 7.2% Pharmaceutical R&D is primarily based in France, where the Group has an expertise and scientific excellence center located at the Lure headquarters and a research center in Angers. R&D aims to develop global products destined for registration worldwide. The R&D depart- ment is backed up by a number of overseas product development units (USA, Poland and Brazil), which contribute to the development and support of local pro- ducts. These technicians have enabled the Group to regis- ter drugs in Europe, the Americas and Asia thanks to their global level expertise fueled by a network of internationally reputed pharmacologists, toxicologists, pharmacokineticists, pathologists and clinical experts, all leading scientists in the main strategic domains. The Group has gained the trust of this expert network thanks to the ethical values and scientific credibility on which the Group is founded. Emphasis is also placed on developing partnerships in order to deploy an innovative product offering covering the Group’s strategic domains as efficiently as possible. Vetoquinol’s reputation is also enhanced by its policy of publications and presentations at international scientific conferences. In view of the stringent regulatory environment sur- rounding the development of veterinary drugs, the Group decided to hire experts in regulatory affairs direc- tly within its R&D department in order to provide two key contributions to the entire design-to-development process: advice on development strategy and the incor- poration of data for the registration application. Three departments help to increase responsiveness in communications between scientists: • quality assurance, which continuously audits develop- ment processes in order to ensure the required levels of GLP, GCP and GMP; • pharmacovigilance (drug safety), which constantly monitors proper use of products by our customers; • the project department, which coordinates the various parties involved in research and development.