Alpharma

Client: Alpharma Animal Health

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FDA Approves Aureomycin-Bovatec Combination for Cattle

FORT LEE, N.J., April 12, 2006 — A new FDA approval allowing the use of Aureomycin® (chlortetracycline) and Bovatec® (lasalocid sodium) in the same cattle feed is expected to help producers optimize weight gain and feed efficiency while controlling anaplasmosis, coccidiosis and the leading causes of bacterial enteritis and pneumonia.

“For years, beef and dairy producers have added Aureomycin and Bovatec to their feed rations to maximize herd health and performance. Now the two products can be fed together for added convenience and flexibility,” reports Dr. Denny Hausmann, a technical service veterinarian for Alpharma Inc., Animal Health.

“Having the option of feeding a broad-spectrum antibiotic like Aureomycin with Bovatec may present new disease-management strategies for beef and dairy herds,” he adds.

In an 82-day trial conducted by Kansas State University, grazing steers fed Aureomycin (350 mg per head daily) and Bovatec (30 grams per ton of feed) achieved an average daily gain that was 10 percent higher than unmedicated controls (2.64 pounds of gain per day vs. 2.40).

“As a general rule, we found that using the two medications together increased gain by 0.20 to 0.30 pound per day,” reports Dr. Gerry Kuhl, a retired cattle specialist from KSU who did some of the trial work with the combination with colleague Dr. Frank Brazle.

“When you get that improvement in rate of gain for a few pennies per day, it’s a very attractive investment — one that could also make energy and protein supplementation more cost-effective for grazing situations.”

Complementary products

Dr. Twig Marston, a nutritionist and extension beef specialist at KSU, notes that Aureomycin and Bovatec have different yet complementary modes of action, which may account for the excellent performance seen when the two medications are used in the same feed.

“The two products really complement each other very well,” he says. “Bovatec works in the rumen microflora to improve intestinal health and allow animals to utilize the energy of feedstuffs more efficiently,” he explains. “That, in turn, produces a healthier animal, one that can respond better to antibiotic treatments.”

Kuhl thinks the new Aureomycin-Bovatec combination may make producers less dependent on labor-intensive injectable antibiotics and make it easier to protect the herd from respiratory problems.

“In the past, if your animals were on Bovatec or another ionophore, you had to use an injectable antibiotic for managing respiratory disease,” he says. “That was a real struggle, particularly in grazing situations and some growing and finishing operations. The Aureomycin-Bovatec combination changes that scenario dramatically, to the point where I think some consulting nutritionists will now consider Bovatec because it can be fed with Aureomycin.”

Kuhl and Marston also expect the Aureomycin-Bovatec combination to be useful in any situation where cattle are grazing on native and improved grasses or wheat pasture.

“I think the combination has the potential to really help cow-calf producers and stocker operators considerably on a wide variety of forages,” Marston says. “Certainly, it will be a good tool during adverse weather, when respiratory problems are more prevalent.”

Benefits dairy industry, too

While the KSU trials were limited to grazing beef cattle, Kuhl and Marston think the Aureomycin-Bovatec combination will benefit dairy operations as well.

“I would think that the most immediate use for it would be in the growing dairy replacement heifers, keeping them disease-free and getting a boost in efficiency and performance,” Kuhl says. “We know that ionophores like Bovatec are helpful in getting animals to breed earlier, and so that’s always of interest to both beef as well as dairy producers. I think the combination could make a very economical and immediate impact on that segment of the dairy industry.”

FDA has approved varying combinations of Aureomycin (50, 70, 90 and 100 grams per pound formulations) and Bovatec (20 grams per pound liquid and 68 and 91 grams per pound formulations) for use in Type B and Type C medicated cattle feeds.

Depending on dose rate, Aureomycin may be used for treating bacterial enteritis caused by Escherichia coli and bacterial pneumonia caused by Pasteurella multocida in calves, beef and non-lactating dairy cattle. In beef cattle, it can also be used to control active infection of anaplasmosis caused by Anaplasma marginale, an infectious parasite, and bacterial pneumonia associated with shipping fever complex caused by Pasteurella sp.

Bovatec can be fed at various dose rates to improve feed efficiency and rate of weight gain in cattle fed in confinement or on pasture for slaughter (stocker, feeder cattle, dairy and beef replacement heifers). In addition, Bovatec can be used to control coccidiosis caused by Eimeria bovis and E. zuernii in cattle weighing up to 800 pounds.

For more information about the new Aureomycin-Bovatec combination, producers should contact their feed supplier or Alpharma representative, or call 1-800-643-5791 or go to www.alpharma.com.

Alpharma Inc. (NYSE: ALO) is a global specialty pharmaceutical company with leadership positions in products for humans and animals. Alpharma is presently active in more than 60 countries. In addition, Alpharma is among the world’s leading producers of several specialty pharmaceutical-grade bulk antibiotics and is internationally recognized as a leading provider of pharmaceutical products for poultry and livestock.

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Aureomycin and Bovatec are registered trademarks of Alpharma Inc.

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