Merck Animal Health Provides Update on Zilmax Five Step Plan

Last August Merck Animal Health voluntary pulled their beta agonist, Zilmax from the market. Yesterday I spoke with Merck Animal Nutritionist Dr. David Yates about the progress of their five step plan concerning Zilmax.
Yates: “One of the key points that we are trying to make sure that gets stress is that this isn’t Merck coming back to the market with the product per say. This is announcing progress on the five step plan and announcement of the new approval. When we have alignment throughout the industry for the in-field use study — that’s when we will begin. So some people have reacted, thinking that we are coming back to market. No, we are going to follow the five step plan that we committed to. That is our responsibility.
Their five step plan includes the creation of the an advisory board; second step was a scientific audit by third-party experts of cattle mobility over several seasons which will become the in-field use study in the next phase; step three is a web-based rigorous training and certification program for those in the feeding industry; fourth step is best management practices and the final step in Merck’s fives step process is transparency.
This approach has taken some time, but as Dr. Yates explains
Yates: “There is a huge team of us that have worked diligently for months and months, and hours and hours, and weeks and weeks and we will continue. That is our commitment to our customers, the cattle and the industry.”