Moxidectin was approved for
onchocerciasis (river-blindness) in 2018 for people over the age of 11 in the United States based on two studies. There is a need for additional trials, with long-term follow-up, to assess whether moxidectin is safe and effective for treatment of nematode infection in children and women of childbearing potential. Moxidectin is predicted to be helpful to achieve elimination goals of this disease. • Dogs: Prevention of
heartworm. In combination with
imidacloprid to treat
sarcoptic mange. • Cattle: Treatment of parasites such as the gastrointestinal
nematode Ostertagia ostertagi, and the lungworm
Dictyocaulus viviparus. Nematodes can develop cross-resistance between moxidectin and other similar parasiticides, such as
ivermectin,
doramectin and
abamectin. The ways in which the parasites evolve resistance to this drug include mutations in glutamate-gated chloride channel genes,
GABA-R genes, or increased expression of
p-glycoprotein, which is a transmembrane drug
efflux pump. Allele frequency changes corresponding to resistance to moxidectin and/or other macrocyclic lactone-class drugs have been observed in the glutamate-gated chloride channel α-subunit gene of
Haemonchus contortus and
Cooperia oncophora, as well as in the
H. contortus genes coding for p-glycoprotein and the GABA-R gene. ==Adverse effects==