NZ-owned developer of diagnostic testing, Techion has signed a major deal with animal health leader, Merck Animal Health, to support the company’s Safeguard cattle treatment programme in the United States. 

The partnership brings together Merck Animal Health, known as MSD Animal Health outside the U.S. and Canada, and Techion’s FECPAK platform to provide faecal egg counts (FEC) for cattle farmers across the United States. Merck Animal Health is operating the FECPAK testing platform in its Kansas City laboratory, to speed up processing and results for cattle farmers and the Merck field team across the United States.   

Combining Merck Animal Health's Safeguard treatment programme and the world-leading FECPAK digital and AI-supported diagnostic technology, allows Merck Animal Health representatives to give US cattle producers access to faster, standardised faecal egg count (FEC) testing results to support informed treatment decisions. This helps farmers maximise farm profit by improving cattle growth rates and supporting the responsible use of anthelmintics, as drench resistance continues to grow as a challenge for the industry. 

Techion Founder and Managing Director, Greg Mirams, said the partnership with the animal health company was a natural fit for FECPAK's mission to put reliable parasite intelligence in farmers' and industry hands. 

"Parasites are a production-limiting problem you can't always see. FEC testing makes them measurable. Merck Animal Health is embedding FECPAK into its lab operations to standardise cattle FEC processing and reporting, and that's exactly the kind of evidence-based approach the industry needs. With Safeguard, Merck Animal Health isn't only supplying product they're supporting farmers to make confident, informed treatment decisions and FECPAK is proud to be part of that." 

Merck Animal Health has integrated FECPAK's digital workflow into its laboratory operations, standardising how cattle FEC samples are processed, analysed and reported. In the field, the company’s technical services and rep teams use a FECPAK QR digital submission and sample tracking tool to streamline collection, reduce paperwork and provide traceability from farm to lab and through to results reporting. 

Key features of Techion’s FECPAK platform supporting the Merck Animal Health programme include: 

Merck Animal Health, Parasiticides Marketing Manager, U.S. Cattle Marketing Team, Samuel Bormann said; “At Merck Animal Health, we’re committed to helping producers make informed decisions that protect animal performance and the long-term effectiveness of the Safeguard cattle parasite treatments. The integration of FECPAK into our Safeguard program is an important step - it gives us reliable, data-driven insights that support more targeted and responsible use of our Safeguard products. By combining diagnostics with our parasite management programmes, we’re strengthening our position as a leader in helping farmers manage parasite burden more effectively.” 
 

Merck Animal Health, Assoc. Director of Diagnostics, James Slightom, explains how FECPAK is being implemented. “FECPAK has integrated well within our lab workflow. The digitization of the lab’s communication with customers has really streamlined the overall process. Automating our communication with customers at multiple points throughout the lab process such as sample receipt, in-progress testing and results reporting has significantly improved customer service and helped produce faster turnaround times. From a quality perspective, every result being captured as a permanent digital image and securely stored, creating a consistent and auditable record is a game changer. Being able to go back to a sample’s raw data and verify the egg count is something we couldn’t do before we implemented FECPAK.”  

The integration of FECPAK into Merck Animal Health's Safeguard programme supports the pharmaceutical company’s goal of responsible anthelmintic stewardship. By pairing treatment with independent diagnostic testing, farmers and their advisors gain real insight into parasite burden before and after drenching helping to identify resistance early, protect drench efficacy, and reduce unnecessary treatments. 

Greg Mirams concluded: "Knowing worms are present and that drench is working effectively is critical information for all cattle producers. This partnership means Merck Animal Health's United States customers can access faster, targeted, independent parasite intelligence as part of their normal Safeguard programme workflow.