FDA warning letters cite manufacturing failures after contaminated product harmed horses

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has issued warning letters to Neogen Corporation and its contract manufacturer, Sciarra Aeromed, after investigators linked a contaminated veterinary product to serious infections in horses across the country. The product, NeogenVet HYCOAT, is a sterile hyaluronate sodium solution marketed for wound care but commonly used by vets to inject into joints to manage lameness. The FDA's testing found viable fungal contamination in affected lots, including a species known to resist standard antifungal treatment.

The agency's investigation identified nearly 100 individual cases of joint infection following use of the product, with at least 20 horses requiring humane euthanasia as a result. The FDA has described it as the largest number of animal deaths it has tied to a quality defect in a veterinary product labelled as sterile. Neogen issued a voluntary nationwide recall of the affected lots in January 2026, and the FDA's warning letters, issued in September, set out manufacturing and quality-oversight failures at the production facility, including inadequate sterility controls and insufficient monitoring for contamination.

For horse owners and vets, the case is a reminder of why sterile-labelled products deserve the same scrutiny as any other medicine: checking lot numbers against recall notices, sourcing from reputable suppliers, and reporting any suspected adverse reaction to the regulator rather than assuming a problem is unrelated to the product used. The FDA says it continues to gather information on affected horses and has asked vets to report any related adverse events through its standard reporting channel.