Innovative new product will help New Zealand lamb

Innovative new product will help New Zealand lamb industry

Pfizer Animal Health launched an innovative new drench to New Zealand sheep farmers, which could help save our country’s valuable lamb industry millions of dollars a year in lost productivity.

Manufactured in New Zealand for New Zealand farmers, STARTECT® was developed in partnership with Auckland-based Argenta - a leading provider of new product development and manufacturing services to the international animal health industry.

The product has been launched in response to growing concerns from sheep farmers around the globe and in New Zealand about the resistance of worms to many drenches. Drench resistance is caused by a change in the genes in a worm population over time- allowing certain worms to survive a drench.

Ineffective drenches can result in slower animal growth rates. On a sheep breeding operation, slower growth rates can mean lighter lambs to sell, longer finishing times and fewer hoggets to mate. On a lamb finishing operation, slower growth rates can mean longer finishing times and fewer stock that can be finished on time.

In New Zealand alone, drench resistance is estimated to cost sheep farmers an additional $20 million a year on top of the $300 million annual cost of internal parasites in lost production and drench use[1]. This cost is expected to rise as drench resistance becomes more prevalent.

“Pfizer is proud to offer New Zealand sheep farmers STARTECT, which has the potential to contribute significantly to the economic growth and sustainability of our country’s sheep industry,” says Pfizer Animal Health Divisional Director, Paul Fitzpatrick.

“The New Zealand sheep industry has been facing a tough economic climate for some time with lower returns for meat and wool, so farmers need to maximise productivity as much as possible. STARTECT’s development is good news not only for farmers, but also for the future of our agricultural industry as one of New Zealand’s biggest export earners.

“This major breakthrough will enable our sheep farmers to confidently regain control of their worm management programmes. STARTECT is a highly effective worm control tool, which, when used as part of a well designed worming programme, will help them achieve optimum productivity and overcome subclinical losses due to parasitism and drench resistance.

“Even for farmers without a current drench resistance problem, STARTECT can be used as an effective proactive measure to ensure drench resistance doesn’t threaten the productivity of their farming business in the future.”

A number of animal health companies had begun the difficult search for a new approach to worm management. Scientists at Pfizer Animal Health discovered a completely new molecule, called derquantel, which worms have never been exposed to before. Pfizer took their discovery one step further by combining derquantel with abamectin, an existing active already found in other drenches, to produce STARTECT.

Introducing a new active in a combination is a world first, and comes following a significant investment in research and development by Pfizer over more than five years.

Recent regulatory approval for STARTECT means New Zealand sheep farmers will be the first in the world to use the broad spectrum oral drench, which will be available from vets and rural merchants across the country.

For further information visit www.startect.co.nz

ENDS

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