The main topics of concern at the American Association of Equine Practitioner’s convention Biologic and Therapeutic Agents Forum were veterinary compounding, judicious use of antibiotics, plasma products, and the ability to update current vaccines without having to go through a complete approval process with USDA. The latter was focused on flu, which has been in the headlines this year with equine flu getting into dogs and the looming threat of avian flu.

A six-page pamphlet is now available on veterinary compounding prepared by the Animal Health Institute, American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), and the American Veterinary Distributors Association. These are available free of charge to veterinarians, who can then distribute them to horse owners. Covered in the pamphlet are discussions on what is compounding, what federal regulations require to compound a drug legally, generic vs. compounded drugs, and questions to ask a compounding pharmacist.

Craig Barnett, DVM, of Intervet, Inc., was the facilitator of the forum. He first called upon Kentucky veterinarian Jim Morehead, DVM, who had headed up the AAEP’s drug compounding task force that was disbanded at the end of last year, “but things keep popping up,”he added.

At the AAEP convention, there had been problems with compounding companies that did not meet FDA guidelines being present at the trade show. Morehead said a FDA representative was again at the convention to walk through the trade show and do spot checks to make sure that no company was marketing illegal products. Morehead said there were 26 compounding companies exhibiting last year, and only six this year.

“We want them to conform to FDA regulations,” said Morehead