Abstract
NexGard® Combo, a novel topical antiparasitic product for cats, combines the insecticide/acaricide esafoxolaner with the nematocide eprinomectin and cestodicide praziquantel. The efficacy of this combination product was evaluated against two common endoparasites of global occurrence in cats, the nematode Toxocara cati and the cestode Dipylidium caninum, in five controlled studies using naturally or experimentally infected cats with parasites of North American, South African or European origin. Cats evaluated in these studies harbored patent infection of the target parasite confirmed through a pre-treatment fecal examination. In each study, cats were allocated randomly to two groups of equal size (8 or 10 cats per group per study), one group treated with a placebo (mineral oil) and the other with NexGard® Combo. Both treatments were administered once as a spot-on at 0.12 mL per kg body weight to deliver the minimum label dosage (1.44 mg/kg esafoxolaner, 0.48 mg/kg eprinomectin, and 10.0 mg/kg praziquantel) to the NexGard® Combo-treated cats. To determine efficacy, geometric mean parasite counts seven to 12 days after treatment of placebo-treated (control) cats and NexGard® Combo-treated cats were compared. The efficacy of NexGard® Combo was 98.8% and 100% against adult T. cati in two studies; and 98.0%, 98.3% and 93.2% against D. caninum in three studies. No adverse events related to treatment were observed throughout the studies. These studies demonstrate high efficacy against these major feline endoparasites and excellent acceptability of the novel topical antiparasitic combination of esafoxolaner, eprinomectin and praziquantel.
Highlights
Domestic cats may harbor a wide range of intestinal parasites, such as nematodes, cestodes, trematodes and protozoans [5]
Toxocara cati is the most common nematode and the main ascarid species found in cats, with a high prevalence in kittens, while Toxascaris leonina and hookworms, such as Ancylostoma tubaeforme, Ancylostoma braziliense and Ancylostoma ceylanicum are more rarely diagnosed in domestic cats [5]
All studies were considered to have adequate challenge based on target parasite infections in the cats of at least five adult T. cati or at least two D. caninum recovered from a minimum of six cats of the respective placebo-treated control groups
Summary
Domestic cats may harbor a wide range of intestinal parasites, such as nematodes, cestodes, trematodes and protozoans [5]. Major cestodes of domestic cats are dipylidiid cestodes such as Dipylidium caninum, Joyeuxiella spp. and Diplopylidium spp., and taeniid cestodes such as Taenia taeniaeformis and Echinococcus multilocularis [5] Some of these helminths are well known for the zoonotic risk to humans cohabiting with or exposed to infected cats. NexGardÒ Combo, a novel topical endectoparasiticide formulation for cats combines esafoxolaner, an isoxazoline with insecticidal and acaricidal activity, with two anthelminitic compounds of well-known efficacy, eprinomectin and praziquantel [8, 19,20,21,22, 32] They have become standard therapeutics, as they have been proven safe and highly efficacious against a broad spectrum of intestinal helminths in cats [19,20,21,22, 32, 33, 35]. The studies reported here were conducted to confirm the efficacy and acceptability of this novel topical product in cats against naturally acquired and experimentally induced infections with T. cati or D. caninum, as per the requirements of regulatory agencies
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