Return of Ectosan Vet depends on fish farmers, says Benchmark boss
Re-launch of lice treatment is subject to securing customer uptake on new business model
The reintroduction of the lice treatment Ectosan Vet will depend on customers committing to the product and a land-based version of its associated CleanTreat filtration system, aquaculture biotechnology company Benchmark Holdings has said.
Ectosan, which contains the insecticide imidacloprid, is licensed in both Norway and the Faroe Islands, but has so far only been used in Norway. It is designed to be used in a closed system on a wellboat and in conjunction with CleanTreat, Benchmark’s system for removing Ectosan residues and lice egg strings.
The treatment proved effective in the field, but required a separate vessel equipped with CleanTreat to be moored alongside the wellboat. The extra cost of this measure put off customers and proved to be uneconomic for Benchmark. In December 2023 it took the decision to demobilise one of its two CleanTreat vessels because of low-capacity utilisation. The second CleanTreat vessel has also since been demobilised, leading to a pause in Ectosan use.
Benchmark looked at the possibility of incorporating CleanTreat within wellboats but has more recently focused on a shore-based solution which would involve a wellboat pumping treatment water ashore for cleaning.
In its report for the first half of its 2025 financial year (which runs from October to September) published earlier this month, Benchmark said progress had been made towards a new land-based configuration and business model for Ectosan and CleanTreat.
“We are working in partnership with a specialist solutions provider, Water AS, and have significant expression of interest from potential customers who have previously used Ectosan Vet and CleanTreat and who remain interested in incorporating the solution into their sea lice toolkit with a simplified infrastructure and cost-efficient business model,” the company wrote.
In a streamed presentation, chief executive Trond Williksen said: “We are working on re-launching such a solution, but it is still subject to securing customer uptake on the new business model.”
Benchmark Holdings made post-tax profit of £76 million in H1 as a result of the sale of its Genetics division to international life sciences investor Novo Holdings for an initial payment of £230m and a potential a contingent consideration of up to £30m. Benchmark has used much of the money to pay down debt.
The sale has left Benchmark Holdings with two divisions: Advanced Nutrition, which owns INVE Aquaculture; and Health, which developed CleanTreat and Ectosan Vet, and also supplies the lice treatment Salmosan Vet, based on azamethiphos.
