World Pork Expo: Elanco launches Pradalex for swine respiratory disease
Elanco brings the first novel injectable antibiotic to the swine industry in over 10 years
2 July 2025
2 minute read
By: Dr. Patrick Hoffman, technical veterinarian on the Elanco Swine Team, spoke to The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, USA.
You have some exciting news at Elanco. Tell me about your new product.
We're excited to bring the first novel injectable antibiotic to the swine industry in over 10 years. It's called Pradalex, and it's labeled for swine and beef cattle.
How does it work on swine respiratory disease?
It’s an antibiotic. We're obviously targeting the bacteria, which works in two different ways – the unique mode of action we call it a dual mode of action. It can attack both gram positive and gram negative bacteria in two different ways. That gives it a lot of uniqueness from the other antibiotics that are currently on the market.
What are some of the features and benefits?
We use the words fast, effective and convenient for a reason. It reaches the maximum concentration in the serum in 45 minutes, so it works extremely fast. The effective part comes from the dual mode of action, and the convenient part comes from the fact that we formulated it at 200 milligrams per mil, which is double the concentration of products like Baytril 100. All that really means is the dose volume then is cut in half, compared to some of the other antibiotics. It's a very small dose.
The advertisement that I got had a pig in a race car so all I could think of was this is a fast-acting product, right?
It's extremely fast. Again, it reaches the maximum serum concentration in 45 minutes from the time you inject the animal. Then it also reaches twice the concentration that Baytril 100 would reach.
With disease, time is trauma. If you can institute your intervention even faster, that saves money and time.
Bottom line, what does a new product like this mean for producers?
It's yet another tool in your swine respiratory disease (SRD) toolbox, it gives people options. There's a two-day withdrawal on it in the US. With the way it's concentrated, you can use it on those bigger pigs right up until 48 hours before they go to market.
