Merck Animal Health takes two top 2025 S&P Global product awards

Merck Animal Health said it won two 2025 S&P Global Animal Health product awards: NUMELVI was named best companion animal product, and INNOVAX ND-IBD-ILT was named best food animal product. The company said the recognition marks its eighth consecutive year receiving an S&P Global Animal Health award, and the first time one company has taken both top product honors in the same year. The announcement follows a busy stretch for both products: NUMELVI, atinvicitinib tablets, received FDA approval on February 25, 2026, for control of pruritus associated with allergic dermatitis in dogs 6 months and older, while Innovax-ND-IBD-ILT received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency’s CVMP in May 2025 for use in chickens and embryonated eggs against Newcastle disease, infectious bursal disease, infectious laryngotracheitis, and Marek’s disease. (merck-animal-health.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the awards themselves are mostly a market signal, but the products behind them are more consequential. NUMELVI gives small animal clinicians a newly approved JAK-pathway option in canine dermatology, positioned by Merck as the first and only second-generation JAK inhibitor for this indication in the U.S. Innovax-ND-IBD-ILT reflects continued investment in combination poultry vaccines that aim to simplify hatchery vaccination while broadening disease protection, an important operational and health-management issue for food animal systems. (merck.com)

What to watch: Watch for NUMELVI’s U.S. commercial rollout in spring 2026, and for any next regulatory or market-expansion milestones for Innovax-ND-IBD-ILT following the EU positive opinion. (merck.com)