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Abstract
Antibiotics are a lifesaving technology widely used in human and veterinary medicine. However, the use of antibiotic drugs can also create selective evolutionary pressures that can spawn microbes and genes resistant to the drugs. Livestock agriculture is a major consumer of antibiotics and, thus, a contributor to antibiotic resistance. Development of alternative pharmaceutical products can help limit the spread of antibiotic resistance by reducing the use of antibiotics pertinent for human disease treatment in food-animal production. The animal pharmaceutical industry continues to develop new drugs, but a growing share are generic versions of existing animal drugs or are designed for companion animals (instead of food animals).