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  Discussion on Treating Ulcers with Panacur???
Author Message
Member:
indigo

Posted on Friday, Feb 18, 2011 - 10:11 am:

Hi Dr. O, I saw this online and wondered if you could comment?? I have never heard of using Panacur for treating Ulcers, but this clinic (and vet) is very well regarded in my area.

CC

I used Panacure ,on the recommendation and prescription of my equine vet, Dr Lisa Schultz, of Weems & Stephens Equine Hospital. My horse developed ulcers due to the stress from a lengthy illness from an eye infection. She researched the chemical compound that is in the Panacure brand of fenbendezole wormer, and it is the same as the expensive brand of ulcer medication. The other brands of fenbendazole wormers do not have the same carrier in with the fenbendazole, so it is NOT the fenbendazole, but it is the other compound in with it that is the same as the expensive wormer. I gave him a regular tube every day for 21 days,and he has had no more of the symptoms of ulcers.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 - 5:52 pm:

CC, there seems to be some confusion here. I think they are confusing fenbendazole with omeprazole a commonly used antiulcer medicine. I am not aware of any anti-gastric ulcer activity of fenbendazole.
DrO
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Sunday, Feb 20, 2011 - 7:03 pm:

Hello all,

Dr.O the first thing I did after I saw CC's post was to look and see if I could corroborate it. It would result in a great cost savings to be able to use a 7.99 tube of Panacur for several weeks over a tube of Gastrogard @ $35 plus per day

I could not find any articles on using Panacur for ulcers.

Then I went back and reread what was posted in the original post and noticed it was the same carrier. The vet that prescribed might have access to a chemical testing lab and be able to figure out the ingredients ( and amounts of those ingredients) in both products.

I did find some references to using compounded products of omeprazole with some other carrier that did not work and the horses that were tested showed no little or improvement. So, it seems its not the omeprazole by itself but the combination of the carrier and the omeprazole.

I also know from talking to my vet that he believes that that carrier plays a more important part in why the Gastrogard works because it acts as a buffer and also allows the omeprazole to get to where it can do the most good for a longer period of time.

This leads me to think that when Merial was testing the Gastrogard that they found this to be true also and found the right combination of a lot of carrier and a little omeprazole to be the correct proprietary combination to use in the treatment and cure of ulcers.

And may also be the reason why they have the exact same product in Ulcergard that's used as a preventative. The only difference is in the dosing amount.

Technically, if you give a full tube of Ulcergard and a full tube of Gastrogard its the exact same treatment, except the Ulcergard is a little less expensive.

I sure would like to know if the Panacur would work, but would also like to know if there would be any harm from the continuous use of the worming medicine febendazole for that long a period of time.

Thanks
Rachelle
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Feb 21, 2011 - 6:18 pm:

It has been long established that the carrier is important when it was found that generics with different carriers were not as effective as Gastrogard, see the article on Ulcers and Omeprazole for more on this. This is not because the carrier is therapeutic but because it is protective of the omeprazole and it's absorbability and yes ph is thought to be one of those components. And maybe I am being dense here but I still don't see the relation that has with fendbendazole Rachelle.
DrO
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, Feb 21, 2011 - 7:07 pm:

Dr. O,
and I am usually the dense one(lol). It doesn't have anything to do with the fendbendazole, I believe the comparison was that the carrier in both the brand name Panacur wormer and the Gastrogard was the same, the fenbendazole had nothing to do with the result, since other wormers with fenbendazole were also used and did not have the same effect, only the Panacur.

Rachelle
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2011 - 8:33 pm:

I know of nothing to support the hypothesis that the carrier is the active ingredient in Gastrogard.
DrO
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Thursday, Feb 24, 2011 - 8:00 pm:

Dr. O,

No, there probably isn't and I am not saying that the carrier is the active ingredient in Gastrogard, the omeprazole is. But, perhaps because the carrier is a buffer, in some cases where the ulcers are not that severe, that's all that is needed to allow small ulcers to heal. It makes sense to me that it is simply not the omeprazole that's doing the job, or it would work without the carrier and it just doesn't per the studies and the reports.

So my next thought is what would happen if you got generic omeprazole(prilosec)mixed it in the Panacur wormer, it would still be cheaper, but I wonder if there would be an unwanted chemical reaction between the febendazole in the Panacur wormer and the omeprazole?

Got any thoughts on that one?
Rachelle
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Feb 25, 2011 - 7:33 am:

Seems quite unlikey Rachelle but would require testing to know.
DrO
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