World association for the advancement of veterinary parasitology (WAAVP): second edition of guidelines for evaluating the efficacy of equine anthelmintics

These guidelines have been designed to assist in the planning, operation and interpretation of studies which would serve to assess the efficacy of drugs against internal parasites of horses, Although the term anthelmintic is used in the title and text, these guidelines include studies on drug efficacy against larvae of horse hot flies, Gasterophilus spp., which are non-helminth parasites commonly occurring in the stomach of horses. The advantages, disadvantages and application of critical and controlled tests are presented. Information is also provided on selection of animals, housing, feed, dose titration, confirmatory and clinical trials, record keeping and necropsy procedures. These guidelines should assist both investigators and registration authorities in the evaluation of compounds using comparable and standard procedures with the minimum number of animals. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.