26 Sept 2025
Zoetis is facing legal action following renewed pressure over the safety of some of its osteoarthritis treatments.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Zoetis is facing legal action over some of its osteoarthritis treatments.
Although the latest action is limited to 25 individual Librela-related claims in California, lead attorney Kirk Hope said he anticipated “hundreds and hundreds” of similar cases could follow. Although other current actions are focused on consumer-related issues, his case alleges both direct harm from use of Librela and that vets were not properly informed of its risks.
He said: “It is our burden for each one of these to show a causal relationship between the drug and the actual damage to them.”
Mr Hope, who expects to file the initial case within days, added that he had been contacted by lawyers in both Australia and Canada in relation to the issue, while there has also been contact with a UK-based campaign group known as Lost and Found Pets in Cambridge and Surrounding Areas (LFPCSA). It said it is gathering evidence to support its planned case, although legal firms it has contacted are understood to be reluctant to act before the American outcomes are known.
But Zoetis said it “continues to have full confidence” in the two products and estimated that around 30 million Librela doses, plus 10 million of Solensia, had been distributed globally between their launch in 2021 and June of this year.
A spokesperson added that no individual symptom or outcome was classified as more frequent than “rare to very rare” under European Medicines Agency standards.
She also insisted case reports “do not confirm causality, and many involve dogs and cats with complex medical histories”.
However, an online petition, signed by more than 1,200 people so far, has called for Librela and Solensia to be withdrawn from sale in the UK until their safety and efficacy can be assured. The Change.org campaign claimed there is “growing concern” both among pet owners and within the veterinary community about adverse events linked to the drugs.
The campaign description added: “We urge the VMD and Zoetis to act responsibly and prioritise the health of our pets. Until safer alternatives are affirmed, these medications should be withdrawn from the market.”
The role of the VMD has come under scrutiny because of campaigners’ beliefs that it should have followed the lead of its American counterpart, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which issued formal warnings about Librela last December.
The VMD said it had “continuously monitored” the product since it was first authorised for use and insisted it would take further steps if they were necessary. But Jessica Mikaelsson, from LFPCSA, said: “[We] would love for the VMD to finally step up like the FDA did”.
Mr Hope said the FDA’s intervention strengthened his case that vets had not been properly informed of the potential effects.
