Helminth infections, mainly by gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN), are one of the main concerns for animal health, welfare and productivity in grazing ruminant livestock worldwide. The use of a sensitive, precise, accurate, low-cost, and easy-to-perform copromicroscopic technique is of pivotal importance to perform reliable fecal egg count (FEC) and fecal egg count reduction test (FECRT), in order to determine the need of anthelmintic treatment, but also anthelmintic efficacy or resistance. This approach is fundamental to a correct and efficient control of GIN. Unfortunately, in worldwide ruminant farm practice, repeated anthelmintic treatments are carried out, without prior diagnosis of infection, contributing to the spread of Anthelmintic Resistance (AR). Tackling this phenomenon, improving mainly the GIN diagnosis and AR status in farm animals, is a priority of the European COST Action "COMBAR-COMBatting Anthelmintic Resistance in Ruminants" and of the STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium on Animal Health. One of the specific objectives of the COMBAR Working Group 1 (WG1) is to conduct an European market analysis of new diagnostics and develop a business plan for commercial test introduction, leveraging technical know-how of participants. Since the Mini-FLOTAC in combination with the Fill-FLOTAC may be considered a good candidate for a standardized FEC and FECRT in the laboratory, as well as directly in the field, the aim of this study was to conduct SWOT (Strength-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) and PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal) analyses of these tools in 20 European countries involved in the COMBAR WG1, in order to identify the opportunities, barriers, and challenges that might affect the Mini-FLOTAC and Fill-FLOTAC commercialization in Europe.

Ci2 Polytechnic Institute of Tomar Tomar Portugal

CISAS Centre for Research and Development in Agrifood Systems and Sustainability Escola Superior Agrária Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun'Àlvares Viana do Castelo Portugal

Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health Section for Parasitology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden

Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production University of Naples Federico 2 Naples Italy

Department of Veterinary Medicine Faculty of Agriculture University of Novi Sad Novi Sad Serbia

Division of Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Institute of Veterinary Medicine Warsaw University of Life Sciences Warsaw Poland

EpiUnit Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto Porto Portugal

Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague Czechia

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Spiru Haret University Bucharest Romania

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine St Cyril and Methodius University Skopje North Macedonia

INRA Oniris BIOEPAR Nantes France

Institute for Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine Freie Universitaet Berlin Berlin Germany

Institute of Global Food Security Queen's University Belfast Belfast United Kingdom

Institute of Parasitology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Košice Slovakia

Institute of Parasitology University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Institute of Parasitology Vetmeduni Vienna Vienna Austria

Institutes of Agricultural Research and Educational Farm Research Institute of Karcag University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary

Instituto de Ganadería de Montaña CSIC Universidad de León León Spain

Kreavet Kruibeke Belgium

Laboratory for Parasitology Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Ghent University Merelbeke Belgium

Lag Agro Lider Prilep North Macedonia

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas Lithuania

School of Veterinary Medicine University College Dublin Dublin Ireland

Veterinary Research Institute HAO DEMETER Thessaloniki Greece

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