What happened
Elanco Animal Health (ELAN 1.69%) had some happy news to report after market hours on Thursday. And today, investors rewarded the pet-care specialist with a tasty treat: a rally in its share price. Elanco stock rocketed almost 12% higher on the day, blowing far past the basically flat performance of the S&P 500 index.
So what
Elanco reported (no doubt joyfully) that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- supported by the Food and Drug Administration -- has indicated continued approval of a key company product: the Seresto flea and tick collar for dogs and cats.
From what the specialty healthcare company wrote, the EPA sifted through incident data on the product, comparing this to the results of other EPA-registered goods. The regulator found that the most common negative effects had to do with the animals' skin, such as irritation around the region where the collar was worn.
Elanco added that the EPA said Seresto continues to meet all of its standards for registration.
Now what
Seresto is not a new product, having been launched in 2013. And like a great many pet healthcare goods, it is subject to regulatory oversight.
According to Elanco, over 41 million of the collars have been sold since its debut. The company said that the reporting rate for adverse incidents related to its use "has been low and trending downward." It cited the 2022 incident frequency rate of slightly over 0.1%, which shakes out to a little more than 1 animal per every 1,000 wearing the collar.
