AASV News (Mar 2014)

The AASV is conducting its fifth survey of swine-veterinarian income and benefits. Active members of AASV (non-retired veterinarians) in the United States and Canada are asked to watch for information regarding the 2014 survey in the AASV e-Letter, and to participate using the electronic survey form on the AASV Web site.

Similar surveys have been conducted every 3 years since 2002. Members have found the resulting salary and benefit summary useful when seeking employment or preparing to hire veterinary professionals in the swine industry. The survey results have also been utilized to inform veterinary students about the career opportunities available in swine medicine.

Members of AASV are divided into two survey groups according to their employment type. The practitioner survey should be completed by members engaged in private practice, as well as those who oversee pig health for a production or genetics company. Members who work for a university, corporation, or government and are engaged in education, research, technical services, public health, or regulatory work should complete the survey for public/corporate veterinarians.

In addition to 2013 income and benefits, the survey requests information about education and training, employment type, and hours worked. Responses are confidential and the results are reported in a manner to assure participant anonymity.

The overall results of the salary and compensation review will be published and distributed for use by AASV members and students. Previous survey results are available for members to access on the AASV Web site under the “Member Center” menu tab.

Chris Sievers

Alternate Student Delegate selected for AASV board

The AASV Student Recruitment Committee is pleased to announce the selection of Chris Sievers (Iowa State University, 2016) as the incoming Alternate Student Delegate to the AASV Board of Directors.

Chris grew up on a family farm that had a farrow-to-finish swine operation until the early 2000s and then raised contract finishing pigs. He also raised swine for 4H and FFA projects and participated in 4H livestock judging. Prior to entering veterinary school, he received an undergraduate degree in animal science from Iowa State. As an undergraduate, Chris participated on the Meats and Livestock Judging Teams, as well as the Swine Interest Group in the Block and Bridle Club. In addition, he had summer internships with Niman Ranch and the Iowa State Swine Veterinary Internship program as a flex intern for Boehringer Ingelheim. He also interned in Fairmont, Minnesota, sponsored by Zoetis.

He became “hooked on swine medicine” during his first year of veterinary school and was accepted into the master’s program in Preventative Animal Medicine, with a swine project and core courses in epidemiology, swine medicine, statistics, and also microbiology and pathology.

He presented a poster at the AASV Annual meeting in 2013, and noted “a very tight-knit group of veterinarians that truly cared about the industry and its future, and was almost like family.” He came home thinking, “That’s a profession I want to be involved in.” When the announcement came to apply for the student delegate position, he knew this would be a great opportunity to become more involved and give back to AASV.

Chris will assume duties as Alternate Student Delegate during the 2014 AASV Annual Meeting. The former alternate delegate, Amy Daniels (University of Illinois, 2015), will ascend to the delegate position. Amy and Chris will represent student interests within AASV as non-voting members of the board of directors and the Student Recruitment Committee.

Please join us in welcoming Chris to the AASV Board of Directors!

Looking for a scientific paper? Texas A&M will “get it for you”

An agreement between AASV and the Texas A&M University Medical Sciences Library (MSL) now allows AASV members to utilize the MSL’s Get it for me document retrieval service. Members of AASV will have the opportunity to learn more at the AASV Annual Meeting in Dallas, where MSL representatives will be available to provide information and answer questions about the service.

Using Get it for me, AASV members may request literature searches, and the MSL staff will conduct the search using databases appropriate to the topic and available to the library. Search results will be delivered within 2 business days, free of charge. Additionally, members may request copies of journal articles and book chapters available within the library’s extensive collection. Requested items will be provided free of charge within 2 business days.

The Get it for me service is available to all AASV members except students and those with academic appointments, since they already have access to university library resources. Members must register in order to access the service. To register, follow the step-by-step instructions available at http://guides.library.tamu.edu/aasv.

The ins and outs of extra-label drug use in animals: A resource for veterinarians

Are you aware that failing to administer the second dose of an antimicrobial labelled as a two-dose treatment constitutes an extra-label use and may be illegal? As a practicing veterinarian, you’ve likely prescribed a drug for an extra-label use. What does that mean? What gives you the legal ability to do so? What conditions must be met? By explaining FDA’s requirements for extra-label drug use in animals, this article answers these questions and more. Every food-animal veterinarian should read this article. It is posted in its entirety on the AASV Web site at https://www.aasv.org/documents/ELDU_VetResource.pdf.

To prescribe drugs in an extra-label manner, you need to follow FDA’s extra-label drug-use requirements, as stated in the FD&C Act and FDA regulations. You should also educate your clients, particularly food-animal producers, on these requirements and on FDA’s recommendations for the judicious use of antimicrobial drugs (http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ SafetyHealth/AntimicrobialResistance/JudiciousUseofAntimicrobials/ default.htm).

Before Congress passed the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act (AMDUCA) in 1994, federal law did not permit extra-label drug use in animals. The AMDUCA provisions amended the FD&C Act to allow veterinarians to prescribe approved human and animal drugs for extra-label uses in animals under specified conditions. The key points are the following:

•  Valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship

•  General conditions for extra-label drug use

•  Conditions for extra-label drug use in food-producing animals

•  Compounding

•  Drugs prohibited from extra-label uses in animals

This article examines each point separately and describes how FDA’s judicious use recommendations affect extra-label drug use in food-producing animals.

FDA takes significant steps to address antimicrobial resistance

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is implementing a plan, “Guidance for Industry 213,” to help phase out the use of medically important antimicrobials in food animals for food-production purposes, such as to enhance growth or improve feed efficiency. The plan would also phase in veterinary oversight of the remaining appropriate therapeutic uses of such drugs.

In the final guidance, the FDA lays out a road map for animal pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily revise the FDA-approved use conditions on the labels of these products to remove production indications. The plan also calls for changing the current over-the-counter (OTC) status to bring the remaining appropriate therapeutic uses under veterinary oversight. Once a manufacturer voluntarily makes these changes, its medically important antimicrobial drugs can no longer be used for production purposes, and their use to treat, control, or prevent disease in animals will require veterinary oversight.

The FDA is asking animal pharmaceutical companies to notify the agency of their intent to sign on to the strategy within the next 3 months. These companies would then have a 3-year transition process.

In order to help phase in veterinary oversight of drugs covered by the guidance that are intended for medically appropriate uses in feed, the FDA also has issued a proposed rule to update the existing regulations relating to Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) drugs. The use of VFD drugs requires specific authorization by a licensed veterinarian using a process outlined in the agency’s VFD regulations. The VFD proposed rule is intended to update the existing VFD process and facilitate expanded veterinary oversight by clarifying and increasing the flexibility of the administrative requirements for the distribution and use of VFD drugs. Such updates to the VFD process will assist in the transition of OTC products to their new VFD status.

The guidance for animal pharmaceutical companies (GFI 213) is now in final form, and the proposed VFD rule is open for public comment until March 12, 2014. To electronically submit comments on the proposed VFD rule, go to http://www.regulations.gov and insert docket FDA-2010-N-0155. Send written comments to the Division of Dockets Management, Food and Drug Administration, Room 1061, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852.