Growth promoting pharmaceutical implant

Abstract

A combination growth promoting pharmaceutical pellet system which delivers doses of both a growth stimulating pharmaceutical agent and a supplemental agent that enhances the growth produced by the growth stimulating agent as part of a single procedure wherein the doses have a synergistic or augmentative effect on physiological growth and weight gain. The system includes an implanter apparatus for subcutaneously implanting pellets in an animal through the bore of a hypodermic needle which is operably coupled to a pellet magazine, and a plurality of pellets sized to be implanted through the needle and positioned in the magazine for selective alignment of a pellet with the needle. The pellets include at least one growth stimulating pharmaceutical agent dose pellet. The implant also includes a supplemental agent dose selected from the group of parasiticides, antibiotics, estrus suppressing compositions, somatotropins, gonadotropins and mixtures thereof. The various agents preferably include both immediate release and time delayed release components.

1 . A growth-promoting implant for placement in a solid bio-accessible form under the skin of an animal comprising: 
 a growth stimulating agent; and    a supplemental agent that cooperates with said growth stimulating agent to promote growth.    
     
     
         2 . The implant according to  claim 1  wherein said supplemental agent is a parasiticide.  
     
     
         3 . The implant according to  claim 2  wherein said parasiticide is selected from the group consisting of ivermectin, abamectin, doramectin, moxidectin, milbemycin xoime, fenbendazole and oxfendazole.  
     
     
         4 . The implant according to  claim 2  wherein said parasiticide is present in both an immediate release portion and a time delayed portion.  
     
     
         5 . The implant according to  claim 1  wherein said growth stimulating agent is estradiol benzoate in a dosage amount in the range from about 5 to 50 milligrams per implant, and said supplemental agent is ivermectin in a dosage amount in the range from about 100 to 500 milligrams per implant.  
     
     
         6 . The implant according to  claim 1  wherein said growth stimulating agent and said supplemental agent are mixed in at least one pellet of said implant.  
     
     
         7 . The implant according to  claim 1  wherein said antibiotic is selected from the group consisting of tylosin tartrate, tylosin, oxytetracycline, tilmicosin phosphate, ceftiofur hydrochloride, ceftiofur sodium, sulfadimethoxine, mixtures and bio-effective derivatives thereof.  
     
     
         8 . The implant according to  claim 7  wherein said growth stimulating agent is estradiol in a dosage amount in the range from about 5 to 50 milligrams per implant, and said antibiotic is tilmicosin phosphate in a dosage amount in the range from about 500 to 1500 milligrams per implant.  
     
     
         9 . The implant according to  claim 1  wherein said supplemental agent is a somatotropin selected from the group consisting of bovine somatotropin and porcine somatotropin, mixtures and bio-effective derivatives thereof.  
     
     
         10 . The implant according to  claim 1  wherein said growth stimulating agent is estradiol and said supplemental agent is bovine somatotropin.  
     
     
         11 . The implant according to claim t wherein said supplement agent is a gonadotropin selected from the group consisting of luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, gonadotropin releasing hormone, commercial analogs thereof, mixtures and bio-effective derivatives thereof.  
     
     
         12 . The implant according to  claim 11  wherein said growth stimulating agent is estradiol, and said supplemental agent is luteinizing hormone.  
     
     
         13 . A method for providing enhanced physiological growth in an animal comprising the steps of: 
 a) providing an implanter apparatus for implanting pellets in an animal through the bore of a hypodermic needle which is operably coupled to a pellet magazine;    b) loading the pellet magazine with a pelletized implant including a growth stimulating agent dose and a supplemental agent dose;    c) inserting the hypodermic needle under the skin of the animal and injecting the implant into the animal; and    d) withdrawing the hypodermic needle from under the skin of the animal so as to leave the implant beneath the skin.    
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 13  including the step of: 
 a) selecting said supplemental agent from the group consisting of parasiticides, antibiotics, estrus suppressing compounds, somatotropins, gonadatropins, mixtures and bio-effective derivatives thereof.    
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 14  including the step of: 
 a) selecting a parasiticide as said supplemental agent from the group consisting of ivermectin, avermectin, abamectin, doramectin, moxidectin, oxime, oxfendazole, milbeymcin, fenbendazole, lufenuron, mixtures and bio-effective derivatives thereof; and    b) selecting the growth stimulating agent dose from the group consisting of trenbolone acetate, estradiol, estradiol benzoate, zeranol, testosterone propionate, and progesterone.    
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 15  including the step of selecting ivermectin as the supplemental agent.  
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 15  including the step of selecting estradiol as the growth stimulating agent.  
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 15  including the step of providing a plurality of discrete pellets.  
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 15  including the step of providing at least one discrete parasiticide agent dose and at lease one discrete growth stimulating agent dose.  
     
     
         20 . In a method of administering a subcutaneous implant to an animal, the improvement comprising: 
 a) including a growth stimulating agent and a supplemental agent in a single injection.    
     
     
         21 . In an implant adapted for subcutaneous implantation in an animal by an implanter apparatus through the bore of a hypodermic needle which is coupled to a pellet magazine, the improvement comprising: 
 a) said implant including at least one pellet sized and shaped to be implanted through the needle and positioned in the magazine for selective alignment of the implant with the needle; and    b) said implant including a parasiticide agent dose and a growth stimulating agent dose.    
     
     
         22 . The implant according to  claim 21  wherein the parasiticide agent dose includes a composition selected from the group consisting of an avermectin, milbemycin, oxime, fenbendazole, oxgendazole, lufenuron, mixtures and bio-effective derivatives thereof.  
     
     
         23 . The implant according to  claim 21  wherein the parasiticide agent dose comprises ivermectin.  
     
     
         24 . The implant according to  claim 21  wherein the growth stimulating agent dose comprise compositions selected from the group consisting of trenbolone acetate, estradiol, estradiol benzoate, zeranol, testosterone propionate, and progesterone.  
     
     
         25 . The implant according to  claim 22  wherein said parasiticide agent is present in: 
 an immediate release agent pellet including a disintegration agent; and    an extended release agent pellet including a bioerodible matrix.    
     
     
         26 . An implant for subcutaneous implantation in an animal comprising: 
 at least one discrete parasiticidal agent pellet dose; and    at least one discrete growth stimulating agent pellet dose; all of said pellets being combined in a single unit for implantation side by side into the same site.    
     
     
         27 . A method for promoting growth in animals comprising: 
 providing at least one solid bio-accessible pellet having a synergistically effective amount of a supplemental agent wherein said pellets synergistically combine to promote growth in an animal; and    implanting said first and second pellets under the skin of the animal.    
     
     
         28 . The method according to  claim 27  wherein said growth stimulating agent is selected from the group consisting of trenbolone acetate, estradiol, estradiol benzoate, zeranol, testosterone propionate, progesterone and combinations thereof.  
     
     
         29 . The method according to  claim 27  wherein said supplemental agent is selected from the group consisting of parasiticides, estrus-suppressing compositions, antibiotics, somatotropins, gonadotropins and combinations thereof.  
     
     
         30 . The method according to  claim 27  wherein at least one of said pellets includes both an immediate release component and a time-delayed component.  
     
     
         31 . The method according to  claim 29  wherein said estrus-suppressing composition is selected from the group consisting of melengesterol acetate, norgestomet and combinations thereof.  
     
     
         32 . The method according to  claim 29  wherein said estrus-suppressing composition is a progestin.  
     
     
         33 . The method according to  claim 27  wherein said growth stimulating agent comprises from about 5 to 400 mg trenbolone acetate and said supplemental agent comprises from about 10 to 100 mg melengesterol acetate.  
     
     
         34 . An implant for placement under the skin of an animal comprising: 
 at least one solid bio-accessible pellet having a synergistically effective amount of trenbolone acetate; and    at least one solid bio-accessible pellet having a synergistically effective amount of melengesterol acetate;    wherein said pellets synergistically combine to promote growth in an animal.    
     
     
         35 . An implant according to  claim 34  wherein said supplemental agent comprises from about 5-50 mg tylosin tartrate.  
     
     
         36 . A bio-absorbable and bio-compatible implant for placement under the skin of an animal comprising: 
 at least one discrete, solid pellet having a growth promoting agent;    at least one discrete, solid pellet having a supplemental agent;    wherein said agents combine to promote growth in an animal.    
     
     
         37 . The implant according to  claim 36  wherein said supplemental agent comprises from about 5-50 mg tylosin tartrate.