Farmscape for March 29, 2016

The Veterinary Technical Consultant for Swine with Elanco Animal Health Canada says a new antibiotic licensed for animal use only helps address concerns related to antibiotic resistance.
Elanco Animal Health has unveiled a new product designed to reduce the incidence and severity of diarrhea caused by E. Coli in weaned pigs.
Dr. Peter Provis, the Veterinary Technical Consultant for Swine with Elanco Animal Health Canada, says Surmax 200 was developed as an animal use only antibiotic and belongs to a family of antibiotics that has not been used in human medicine.

Clip-Dr. Peter Provis-Elanco Animal Health:
Surmax 200 is unique in a couple of ways.
It is the first feed medication for swine in Canada that is a prescription only product so it requires that the veterinarian and the producer work together in making decisions around the control and management of post-weaning diarrhea caused by E. coli.
It's also unique because Surmax 200 is the only feed product that's licensed in Canada specifically for the control of post-weaning diarrhea caused by E. coli.
Certainly there are some societal concerns about the issue of antibiotic resistance that have been voiced from the human health authorities and Health Canada in particular.
Certainly swine producers and veterinarians are aware of those and are beginning to act on those concerns.
Surmax is an innovation that is unique because it is an animal use only antibiotic.
This innovation and this classification provides the veterinarian and the swine producer with a control option that aligns with this new responsible antibiotic stewardship environment that the industry finds itself in.
Hopefully with that we can reduce our reliance on shared class antibiotics for controlling post-weaning diarrhea caused by E. coli.

Dr. Provis notes the active ingredient in Surmax 200 has also been approved in the United States and approvals are in anticipated in other jurisdictions.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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