Efficacy of oral afoxolaner plus milbemycin oxime chewables against induced gastrointestinal nematode infections in dogs

•A novel oral combination of afoxolaner and milbemycin for dogs has been developed.•The efficacy of the combination was tested against canine intestinal nematodes.•Efficacy was >95% against roundworms (Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina).•Efficacy was 90.2% against Ancylostoma braziliense and 99.7% against A. caninum.•The new combination provides excellent efficacy against canine intestinal nematodes.

The efficacy of oral afoxolaner plus milbemycin oxime combination chewables against induced gastrointestinal nematode infections in dogs was evaluated in six separate studies. Two studies were performed to evaluate the efficacy of the product against Toxocara canis, two studies evaluated the efficacy against Toxascaris leonina, one study evaluated the efficacy against Ancylostoma braziliense, and one study evaluated the efficacy against Ancylostoma caninum. In the A. caninum study, the efficacy of milbemycin oxime alone and afoxolaner alone was also evaluated. Dogs in all studies were inoculated with infective eggs or larvae and confirmed to have patent infections based on a fecal examination prior to allocation to study group and treatment.Each study utilized a randomized block design with blocks based on pre-treatment body weight. All dogs were assigned to blocks based on body weight, and then each dog within a block was randomly assigned to treatment group. There were two groups of 10 dogs each in the T. canis, T. leonina, and A. braziliense studies: 1) an untreated (control) group and 2) a group treated with afoxolaner plus milbemycin oxime chewables (NexGard Spectra®, Merial). This group was treated at a dose as close as possible to the minimum effective dose of afoxolaner and milbemycin oxime (2.5 mg + 0.5 mg per kg body weight, respectively) once on Day 0 using whole chews. There were four groups of 10 dogs each in the A. caninum study: 1) untreated (control), 2) NexGard Spectra® as described above, 3) milbemycin oxime alone (dose of at least 0.5 mg per kg of body weight) and 4) afoxalaner alone (dose of at least 2.5 mg per kg body weight). For parasite recovery and counts, dogs were euthanized humanely and necropsied seven days after treatment.The efficacy of the afoxolaner plus milbemycin oxime combination was ≥98% against T. canis, ≥95.8% against T. leonina, and 90.2% against A. braziliense. Efficacy of the combination against A. caninum was 99.7%, while the efficacy of milbemycin oxime alone was 99.6% and the efficacy of afoxolaner alone was 2.1%. Dogs treated with afoxolaner plus milbemycin oxime chewables had significantly (p ≤ 0.0002) fewer nematodes than the untreated controls in all studies. There were no adverse events or other health problems that were related to treatment with Nexgard Spectra® in these studies.The results of these controlled studies demonstrate the high efficacy of the afoxolaner plus milbemycin oxime chewables against a broad range of canine intestinal nematode infections.