Sergeant’s Pet Care is voluntarily exchanging FiproGuard Plus and other generic versions of Frontline as part of an ongoing patent infringement case.
Customers looking for a lower cost alternative to Frontline were excited this last May 2011, when Sergeant’s Pet Care released its Frontline alternative called FiproGuard Plus. The FiproGuard products have the same active ingredients recommended by veterinarians for flea and tick prevention and at the same concentrations as Frontline, making it a cost effective alternative.
Sergeant’s Pet Care is now voluntarily involved in a return-and-exchange program for FiproGuard Plus, Pronyl OTC Plus, EctoAdvance, Spectra Sure and Prefurred in response to an ongoing patent infringement case with Merial Ltd., the maker’s of Frontline. According to the case, the Sergeant’s products infringe on Merial’s U.S. patent 6,096,329 entitled “insecticidal combination to control mammal fleas in particular fleas on cats and dogs.”
Sergeant’s appears to be keeping the exchange-and-return program on the down low. While the return program is shown on their website as a news release there are very few details regarding how customer’s should return purchased products or whether they actually need to.
For now, it seems to be safe to continue using FiproGuard products as the only thing called into question is their patent and not their safety.
