Castration of piglets is a painful and stressful operation. In addition to ethical problems, the pain and stress have negative impact on meat production efficiency. As authorities, veterinarians and consumers put growing pressure on farmers to treat production animals in a more ethical manner, the use of anaesthesia and/or analgesia is increasing.
Meloxicam and ketoprofen are the most frequently used drugs for castration analgesia. These both have very short elimination half-life in pigs, and therefore the time window for analgesia could be considered to be relatively short, respectively.
ST18P is an intra-muscularly injectable meloxicam silica-hydrogel depot aimed to manage inflammation and pain in piglets for a longer period than achieved with already marketed drug products.
The results of the first PK study and of market survey in Germany and France are available for discussion on request.
We are looking for early co-development deal for the project.