Volume 19, Number 2, June 2000

From The President

I am excited about the opportunities for veterinary pharmacology over the next few years, as I mentioned in the last newsletter. The AAVPT is in a unique position to affect change that will foster rational application of pharmacology and therapeutics to problems in veterinary medicine.

Over 20 years ago, the AAVPT rallying theme was the establishment of a board specialty in veterinary clinical pharmacology. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology. Thanks to the hard work of the AAVPT leadership during the 1980's, and in particular Drs.. Aronson, Davis, Jenkins, Powers, and Short, the ACVCP now is a recognized and growing college, gaining wider respect and credibility each year. The ACVCP now no longer requires the nurturing from AAVPT that it required during its infancy. Nevertheless, the AAVPT and ACVCP will continue to work synergistically supporting the goals and objectives shared by both.

I am pleased to announce that the 2001 AAVPT Biennial Symposium will be held in Denver from May 22-24, 2001. The Council has recommended that the Academy meet immediately prior to the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Annual Forum, which is slated for May 24-27, 2001 in Denver. The AAVPT will meet in an independent fashion on May 22-23, addressing topics germane to the Academy (please send any ideas to Dr. Cory Langston, President-Elect and Chair of the Program Committee). The AAVPT and ACVCP will jointly sponsor a Clinical Pharmacology Session at the ACVIM meeting on Thursday, May 24. In addition, graduate students in veterinary pharmacology will be encouraged to submit abstracts to the "Research Abstracts" section of the ACVIM Forum, thereby providing a broader exposure for the students and opportunities for competing for some of the graduate student awards sponsored by ACVIM. I urge everyone to mark their calendars for that week in May, 2001. Plan to attend the AAVPT Biennial Symposium on May 22-24, and stay afterward for the remainder of the ACVIM meeting.

So what is the rallying point for AAVPT for the next decade? To find that, the Academy must seek to define what veterinary pharmacology and therapeutics should mean in 2010. Recently, there have been several open positions in academia and the animal health pharmaceutical industry for veterinary pharmacologists, each with a limited number of qualified applicants. Is this a function of the number of training programs, the number of graduate students in those programs, or simply the job satisfaction we have in our current positions? As a discipline of the profession, we must foresee what qualifications will be needed for a veterinary pharmacologist in the future, and what training programs and opportunities will attract students and qualify them for productive and rewarding careers in academia, government, and industry. To that end, the AAVPT and ACVCP will be forming a joint Task Force to: (1) identify the current and future needs for veterinary pharmacologists; (2) determine the aspects that are unique to academia, government, and industry; and (3) recommend areas in which the AAVPT can foster veterinary pharmacology and therapeutics for the year 2010. Dr. Mark Papich (President, ACVCP) and I will be recommending to our respective Councils individuals to serve on this Task Force. We will be charging the Task Force with determining a plan of action to address the questions by the end of this year. This represents the single largest issue I see for the AAVPT over the next couple of years.

Please take a look at the newsletter column in this issue from the Secretary/Treasurer (Dr. Debbie Kochevar). Clearly, we have a number of individuals in the Academy who have not paid dues for some time. We are working through the process required in our Constitution and Bylaws to address this. However, if you are one of those people who are delinquent in your dues, please contact her as soon as possible. If you have retired, you are eligible to become an Emeritus Fellow, without requirement for payment of annual dues, through a very simple process. Please work with Dr. Kochevar to become current in your membership status.

Regarding membership, I am considering an incentive plan for recruitment of new members. The American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) has an incentive plan, whereby members who recruit multiple new members either have a registration credit for an upcoming meeting, and/or are recognized at their annual banquet. I will be bringing a proposal of this nature to the Council over the next couple of months.

Let's make 2000-2001 the year of personal renewal, as well as the year of visioning for the future in our discipline. You, and veterinary pharmacology and therapeutics, deserve it!

-Scott Brown

Secretary-Treasurer's Report

I hope everyone had a good time in Seattle and a safe trip home. AAVPT Council met at the ACVIM Forum in Seattle on Thursday, May 25, followed by our annual business meeting on Friday, May 26. Turnout was light for both meetings, but much business was conducted. The Secretary/Treasurer's Report detailed current paid membership asfollows: 87 Fellows, 13 Associate Fellows, 6 Student Members, and 15 Distinguished Fellows or EmeritusFellows. We welcomed one new Fellow, Dr. LaurenTrepanier, to AAVPT. Unfortunately, another 67 Fellows, 16 Associate Fellows and 13 Student Members have not yet paid their dues. A second dues notice will be mailed in June. Subsequently, members who have been delinquent for 18 months or more will be removed from AAVPT mailing lists. If you have recently retired and would like to convert from Fellows to Emeritus status, please contact me. Emeritus Fellows continue to receive the AAVPT newsletter, but do not vote or hold office. It is especially important to provide current mailing information as we are close to publishing our 2000 directory. If you have not yet provided current information, including an E-mail address, please contact me with this information at your earliest convenience.

We would like to thank those members who have paid dues, and, especially ,the following members who have contributed to the AAVPT awards fund: M. Apley, J.Oliver, W. Kay, S. Sundlof, A. Jernigan, E. Small, G. Koritz, M. Papich, M. Ehrich, C. Johnson, W. Lance, J.Gloyd, C. Aronson, G. Moore, C.Lanusse, D. Sawyer, D. Boothe, D. Gingerich, D. Kochevar and the American Veterinary Medical Association.

AAVPT currently supports 47 paid JVPT subscriptions for members with another 12 complimentary subscriptions provided to editorial board members who are also members of AAVPT. We also provide 19 subscriptions that are sent to underdeveloped areas of the world. An effort will be made in the near future to assess the impact of these foreign subscriptions. Please contact me if you have concerns regarding your JVPT subscriptions. We have had some delays in delivery of the journal, but hopefully these problems have been resolved.

Bylaws changes to section one of Articles IV and Vpassed unanimously in February. Councillor elections were held, and Jane Owens Clark and Tomas Martin-Jimenez were elected to fill the two councillor positions.

AAVPT's Biennial Symposium will be held next in 2001 at the ACVIM Forum in Denver, Colorado. The program will begin on Tuesday, May 22 with Council meeting, a reception and the Lloyd Davis lecture and award presentation. The scientific program will be held beginning on Wednesday, May 23, and will continue and overlap with the first day of the ACVIM Forum on

Thursday, May 24. Input is requested from all members on possible themes for the scientific program on Wed, May 23. Please send all suggestions to me at your earliest convenience. The more clinical program on Thursday will focus on special needs pharmacology topics (e.g., possibly renal failure, heart failure, etc.).

The Treasurer's Report showed a balance of $18,178.57 in the checking account, with outstanding liabilities of approximately $8000 (JVPT subscriptions, speaker expenses for AVMA, annual meeting costs and liaison travel expenses). A prospective budget was also presented at the annual meeting that showed an annual projected operating deficit based on current expenditures and dues collections.

Additional committee reports were provided and accepted. Topics for further discussion included continued movement to greater utilization of electronic communications. Efforts will be made to enhance utilization and maintenance of the AAVPT web site. Additional discussion focused on concerns over the perceived shortage of veterinary clinical pharmacologists to fill several open positions in academia and industry.

Have a great summer and remember, please contact me with any changes in mailing, phone, fax, or E-mail information so entries in the 2000 directory will be accurate!

- Debbie Kochevar 
dkochevar@cvm.tamu.edu 

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Thanks to all of the members of AAVPT and diplomates of ACVCP who sent condolences and words of sympathy upon the passing of my wife Karen. We miss her dearly, as do her many friends, but have the consolation of knowing that , at long last, she is suffering no more.

- Charles and Tanner Short

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The Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics is on track in 2000. We have worked to insure that the average turnaround time for a manuscript from submission to first notification of action is 3 months. In some cases, especially around the holidays, this may take longer as everyone seems to be on mutually exclusive vacation schedules! The reviewers are doing an excellent job. JVPT is still in need of review articles on timely topics. All review articles undergo peer-review. Should you have an idea, please communicate it to me. Check out the journal's web site at the following address: http://www.blackwell-science.com (select journals A-Z and scroll down to JVPT) maintained by the publisher. Finally, please keep those manuscripts coming to your journal.

- Jim Riviere

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The AAVPT/ACVCP sponsored session at the ACVIM Forum in Seattle was both excellent and well attended. Special thanks go to the speakers, Pfizer Animal Health for sponsorship, and the many others who facilitated this meeting. The AAVPT/ACVCP program for the 2000 AVMA Convention in July is as follows:

! "Recent developments in control of external parasites."
- Michael Dryden

! "Recent developments in control of protozoal infections."
- Byron Blagburn

! "Recent developments in antinematodal therapy."
- Randy Lynn

! "Resistance to antinematodal agents."
- George Conder

! "Management of arthritis - parts 1 and 2."
- David Bennett

! "Behavior modifying drugs."
- Karen Overall

! "Therapeutic use of colony stimulating factors and cytokines."
- Clinton Lothrop

The AAVPT/ACVCP program for the AVMA 2001 Convention in Boston is scheduled. The sessions revisit the antibiotic resistance issue, but primarily will focus on the therapeutic needs of special patient subgroups (pediatrics, liver failure, exotics, etc.). This program can also serve as the clinically oriented portion of the AAVPT/ACVCP program for the 2001 ACVIM Forum. An expanded Program Committee is being formed to address the additional program needs (basic science, industrial and regulatory) of the AAVPT Biennial Symposium to be held just prior to next year's ACVIM Forum. Please contact Dr. Langston if you're interested in serving on the Program Committee, or if you have suggestions for this program.

The issue of inadequate speaker travel reimbursement remains an issue of importance to the continuation of the AAVPT/ACVCP portions of the ACVIM and AVMA conventions. At present, corporate "sponsorship" of the programs to the ACVIM or AVMA only pays that organization for room and audio-visualequipment rental and associated expenses The organizations provide minimal support for speaker reimbursement, thereby often necessitating use of AAVPT and ACVCP funds to offset additonal speaker expenses. This is particularly problematic, since both organizations discourage groups from seeking additional sponsorships. A dialog with ACVIM and AVMA has begun in an attempt to address this concern.

Lastly, we would like express our gratitude to those members who are trying to establish collaborative efforts between AAVPT and other professional associations. I would, however, ask that anyone working on such collaborations please keep us informed of their endeavors, so as to provide both proper acknowledgement and avoid a duplication of efforts.

- Cory Langston, AAVPT

(langston@cvm.msstate.edu)

- Cyril Clarke, ACVCP
(clarke@okway.okstate.edu)

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The animal health industry spent more than $409 million on research and development for new products and to ensure the safety and effectiveness of existing products in 1999. Most of the R&D expenditures (82%) were spent on conducting innovative research, while 18% was toward defensive research. R&D spending by product categories was 52.4% for pharmaceuticals, 31% for biologicals, 10% for feed additives, 5% for insecticides and less than 2% for diagnositics.

- David F. Kowalczyk

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In September of 1999, minor editorial changes were made to the awards descriptions to allow more flexibility as to the choice of the AAVPT meeting for the presentation of awards.

In November of 1999, the AAVPT President and Council were provided with an estimated budget of the cost of awards for their consideration and remarks should an awards program be held in 2001.

No other business has been conducted. If Council decides to hold an awards ceremony in 2001, then the Chairman of the Awards Committee will (1) request that a call for nominations be published in the fall 2000 issue of the AAVPT Newsletter, (2) make appointments to the Awards Committee, (3) seek contributions to the awards fund from individuals and organizations, (4) process the awards nominations and determine the awardees, and (5) prepare the awards for presentation in 2001 (presumably at the AAVPT meeting in conjunction with the ACVIM meeting).

Should Council have the names and addresses of persons to be contacted in the pharmaceutical industry, government, or other organizations for contributions to the awards fund, please notify Gary Koritz.

- Gary Koritz

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News From Washington

CVM has updated its booklet titled "FDA and the Veterinarian" providing an excellent, concise (only 44 pages), compendium of information about FDA generally, and CVM specifically, and its mandate and responsibilities.Included is information on CVM's responsibility for pet foods, veterinary biologics, veterinary medical devices, pesticides and animal grooming aids.

Although this booklet is a valuable resource for veterinarians in general, it is particularly valuable for members of the AAVPT since it provides current information on such topics as: the classification of R_x and OTC drugs; dispensing veterinary prescription drugs, medicated feeds, and the use of veterinary feed directives (VFD) in ordering the preparation and dispensing of feeds containing VFD drugs; extra-label use of new animal drugs in food-producing animals; compounding of animal drugs; and reporting adverse drug reactions. This booklet may be obtained without charge by writing to FDA, CVM, HFV-12, 7500 Standish Place, Rockville, MD 20855.

CVM has announced plans to develop a prototypic risk assessment (RA) model that accounts for the transfer of resistance determinants from bacteria in food-producing animals to bacteria in humans. This model will be used to assess the association between the development of streptogramin (quinupristin/ dalfopristin) resistant Enterococcus faecium in humans, and the use of virginiamycin in food-producing animals. The Center will attempt to use the RA model to quantify the human health impact attributable both to direct acquisition of resistant E. faecium from food-producing animals, as well as the transfer of resistance determinants from E. faecium in food-producing animals to E. faecium in humans.

- Richard H. Teske

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The Department of Veterinary Biosciences of the University of Illinois, College of Veterinary Medicine, at Urbana/Champaign invites applications for an Assistant Professor in Veterinary Pharmacology.

Qualified applicants must have a D.V.M. or equivalent degree from an accredited institution as well as a Ph.D. degree. Demonstrated success in pharmacological research is required. Specialty board certification in the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology is also helpful.

The successful candidate should plan to develop a program including both independent and collaborative research. This position also includes responsibilities in teaching and service.

Appointment will be on a full-time tenure track annual (12 month) basis to begin about September 1, 2000, or until the position is filled. Salary is commensurate with experience.

Qualified applicants are invited to submit a letter of intent, professional resume, and names and addresses of three references to: Dr. Gary Koritz, Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, 2001 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana, IL 61802, phone 217-333-7981.

In order to receive full consideration, applications should be received by August 1, 2000. Applications will continue to be reviewed until the position is filled.

The University of Illinois is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer.

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With each mailing of our AAVPT Newsletter, a few copies generally find their way back to me, compliments of the U.S. Postal Service, due to inaccuracies in the database used to generate the mailing labels. Please help us to mimimize this problem by promptly notifying our Secretary/Treasurer, Debbie Kochevar, if you have had a change of address, phone number, E-mail address, job status, etc. This same information is also used to compile the listing for each member in the Membership Directory, so, with a new directory currently in preparation, it is very important that we hear from you without delay, "if the shoe fits," in order to make the upcoming directory as accurate as we possible. Thanks in advance for your help and cooperation in this important matter.

Once again, I'd like to encourage all our members to feel free to contibute material to the Newsletter. If you have something that you would like to share with your colleagues, please send it to me by E-mail (in plain text - please, no attachments), and I will do my best to see that it is included in the next issue. Letters, book reviews, employment and educational opportunities, awards presented to members in recognition of special accomplishments, news about changes in employment status, notices relating to upcoming meetings of interest (domestic and foreign), etc. are all welcome. Please remember that the reason our AAVPT Newsletter exists is to provide you with interesting, useful information pertaining to our organization, related organizations, and the profession in general.

- Carl E. Aronson

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Editor: Carl E. Aronson

Industry: David F. Kowalczyk

Washington: Richard H. Teske

J.V.P.T.: Jim Riviere

Education: Gordon L. Coppoc

The Newsletter is published three times a year by the American Academy of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. Please address all correspondence to: Dr. Carl E. Aronson, 246 Lynbrooke Road, Springfield, PA 19064-3121, U.S.A. [Telephone and Fax: (610) 544-4262; E-Mail: <aronsonc@vet.upenn.edu>].

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Official Notice to Members