Randomized non-inferiority trial comparing two commercial intramammary antibiotics for the treatment of non-severe clinical mastitis in dairy cows

Abstract

No new antimicrobials have been approved for the treatment of mastitis since 2006; it would be beneficial to perform controlled field trials comparing 2 existing treatments. Non-inferiority trials are valuable in this regard, as they do not require a negative control as in a randomized, controlled FDA drug trial. If a therapy with similar efficacy is available, decision making criteria can include convenience, lower costs, less side effects, improved delivery systems, and better integration into current protocols. The purpose was to perform a non-inferiority comparison of 2 intramammary treatments for clinical mastitis (CM). We intended to show that hetacillin had comparable efficacy to the reference treatment, ceftiofur when considering cure and survival indices.