New dual lice treatment a world-first

New dual lice treatment a world-first

- New Zealand developed pour-on treatment
- Major technological advancement

Auckland, 21 April, 2010 - Fast, effective lice control in sheep has just got easier for Kiwi farmers, thanks to a world-first dual pour-on developed right here in New Zealand.

Zapp® Encore is the first product of its type to combine fast knockdown with persistent activity against lice.

It also brings to the New Zealand livestock market a new active ingredient called imidacloprid from a new chemical class – the neonicotinoids – and it is the first pour-on for sheep lice control to harness two active ingredients in one formulation.

Technically, this is a big step forward for sheep farmers.

Up until now organophosphate (OP) products have been among the most common treatment for fast knockdown of lice but these lack persistent activity.

More modern insect growth regulator (IGR) treatments persist for several weeks, disrupting the developmental stages of the lice life cycle, but they do not kill adult lice present on the sheep at the time of administration.

Animal Health Technical Development Manager for Bayer New Zealand, Dr John Messer, says this really is a case of one new product offering the best of both worlds.

Zapp Encore is unique in another way, too – it’s been developed in New Zealand, for New Zealand conditions. Most of the laboratory research and all of the extensive field testing has been carried out in New Zealand, as has the formulation work.

The main development programme was fast tracked over the last three years, but the idea of using imidacloprid for livestock has been in the Bayer pipeline since 2001.

Imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid insecticide which Bayer developed and which has been widely used in small animal treatments for external parasites like fleas.

“One of its defining characteristics – and the reason we wanted to see if it could be applied to large animals – is its rapid action against target pests,” Dr Messer says. “That’s the key to fast knock-down.”

It wasn’t until 2007 that Bayer researchers first tried imidacloprid in combination with triflumuron, the active ingredient in the existing Zapp Pour-On.

Thus began the serious development programme, which included two GCP (Good Clinical Practice) pen studies, 14 field studies, a GCP safety study and a GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) tissue residue study, all conducted in New Zealand.

Dr Messer says having years of performance and safety data on imidacloprid in small animals was a big help. “We know everything about the active. We have massive amounts of research on it, because it’s an integral part of Bayer’s product portfolios.”

Like Zapp, Zapp Encore offers long term control with dual action against lice and flystrike; a rainfast formula with fast spreading solvent base for rapid penetration into the fleece and low mammalian toxicity. However it also adds knockdown of lice, and treatment of active flystrike through the addition of imidacloprid.

Body lice in sheep are a problem all year, particularly in the autumn and winter months in the South Island. If untreated they can reduce both fleece quality and quantity, causing wool to lose brightness and become yellow in colour. Lice also cause Cockle which can lead to serious defects in sheep pelts.

Zapp Encore has a meat withholding period of 56 days and comes in a 5 L backpack, and 1 L and 20 L containers.

Zapp Encore is registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, No. A10400.

ENDS

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