EPM Vaccine Argument

When there is a new drug or vaccine going through the approval process with FDA or USDA, there are certain criteria that have to be met. We discuss this in-depth in our article that begins on page 37. The

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When there is a new drug or vaccine going through the approval process with FDA or USDA, there are certain criteria that have to be met. We discuss this in-depth in our article that begins on page 37. The federal government also accepts input from the public when a regulated product is undergoing official scrutiny. This is a chance for individuals and professionals in the industry to raise concerns about a product that they feel could harm an animal, or to promote a product and raise federal awareness of an equine problem that needs immediate medical attention.


If concerns come from reliable, knowledgeable people who are acting in the best interest of the horse and the industry, then I applaud them for their actions. Many times products–and federal laws–are accepted just because a group or company wants to make a profit, and the industry just sits back and complains after the fact.

There are times when concerns are raised that cause delays in approval of a product, or even prevent the product from ever reaching the industry. Maybe that’s good, and maybe that’s not so good.

Case in point.

There are some knowledgeable people who believe that the equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) vaccine Fort Dodge has in the approval process with USDA is a good thing for the industry. There are some knowledgeable people who believe that the EPM vaccine Fort Dodge has in the approval process with USDA is not a good thing for the industry. Here is the gist of the argument.

First, opponents say no one has successfully reproduced EPM in a horse in a research setting. In other words, scientists can’t re-create the disease in healthy horses to test whether a vaccine would be effective. While this is true, there are other vaccines on the market–specifically for Eastern, Western, and Venezuelean encephalitis–for which there is no currently available challenge model. Equine influenza was another one where vaccines were approved without challenge models (prior to Heska’s research on the intranasal type).

Second, opponents say the vaccine will skew the ability of tests to diagnose seriologically positive horses. I’m not sure there is much debate there from any side, but there is a debate whether the current tests are accurate in diagnosing disease.

Third, opponents say the vaccine isn’t safe. If safe is defined as not causing problems when injected in horses, then from the research and field trials that have been done with nearly 900 horses, the vaccine is as safe as anything else we poke in our horses’ necks.

There are more, but for the sake of space, let me give a horse owner’s view

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Written by:

Kimberly S. Brown is the editor of EquiManagement/EquiManagement.com and the group publisher of the Equine Health Network at Equine Network LLC.

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