Idexx Moving to Direct Sales Across U.S.August 6, 2014 Idexx Laboratories Inc., a manufacturer of diagnostic and information technology-based products and services, will drop its U.S. distributor partners and sell directly to all customers beginning Jan. 1, 2015. The change will affect companies such as MWI Veterinary Supply Inc. The Boise, Idaho, distributor disclosed July 31 in its third-quarter financial report that the Idexx account is responsible for about 3.4 percent of MWI’s multibillion-dollar annual revenue. MWI President and CEO Jim Cleary tried to allay any fears, saying the company is “strategically well-positioned with competitive diagnostic products, which we have marketed and sold since January 2013.” MWI previously announced the layoff of 5 percent of its U.S. workforce and the shuttering of warehouses in Mauston, Wis., and Phoenix. Jonathan Ayers, Idexx’s chairman and CEO, called the direct sales of U.S. Companion Animal Group diagnostics “a natural evolution of our business model.” “Under this approach, we intend to take orders, ship product, invoice and receive payment, and recognize revenue for all rapid assay test kits and instrument consumables in the U.S., aligning with our direct model for instruments, reference lab services and other [Companion Animal Group] products and services,” Ayers said. Idexx …
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Virginia Tech Presents Annual Teaching Hospital AwardsAugust 6, 2014 The Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech recognized the accomplishments of its Veterinary Teaching Hospital faculty and staff during an awards ceremony in late June. Among the winners: Dr. Hollie Schramm, clinical assistant professor of production management medicine in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, and Dr. Tom Cecere, assistant professor of anatomic pathology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, received the 2014 Director’s Faculty Service Award. Dr. Sarah Holland, production management medicine resident, and Dr. Julia Coutin, surgery resident in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, received the 2014 Director’s House Officer Service Award. Samantha Suroski, hospital admissions supervisor, and Sharon Dunn, office services specialist, received the 2014 Director’s Staff Service Award. The hospital’s oncology service received the 2014 Director’s Award for Exemplary Service as a Unit. Award winners include Dr. Shawna Klahn, assistant professor of oncology; Dr. Nick Dervisis, assistant professor of oncology; Dr. Paulo Vilar Saavedra, oncology resident; Dr. Erin Fagan, oncology resident; Stefanie Olsen, licensed veterinary technician; and Lauren Scaletta, licensed veterinary technician. Several faculty and staff members also earned Lifetime Service Awards for their long-term service to the teaching hospital. These included Dr. Phil Sponenberg, professor …
Veterinarian’s Memoirs PublishedAugust 5, 2014 Follow Veterinary Practice News on Twitter at @vetpetnews. Most people probably know him as “The Incredible Dr. Pol,” his alter ego (or perhaps not so alter ego) on the Nat Geo Wild program of the same name. But Jan Pol, DVM has been a veterinarian for decades and has multitudes of stories to tell. Much of which he shares in his memoirs, “Never Turn Your Back on an Angus Cow.” Dr. Pol, 72, first began practicing veterinary medicine in his native Netherlands. He graduated from Utrecht University in 1970 and in 1981 he and his wife, Diane, opened his first practice, Pol Veterinary Services. Pol, known as a no-nonsense but empathetic veterinarian, is also a natural, charismatic storyteller. His memoirs, which he penned with the help of author David Fisher, is full of crazy, compelling, funny and sometimes bittersweet accounts of his veterinary career. His memoir, subtitled “My Life as a Country Vet,” includes stories on using an animal’s breath to determine what’s its ailment is, making tough judgment calls, and why it’s important to turn your car around before leaving them to attend to farm calls. Reviews have compared …
Idexx Prevails in Advertising Dispute With AntechAugust 5, 2014 The National Advertising Division has rejected assertions that Antech Diagnostics’ AccuPlex4 screening test is superior to Idexx Laboratories’ SNAP 4Dx Plus. The advertising industry’s self-regulating arm in July recommended that Antech Diagnostics discontinue certain claims. The Irvine, Calif., company, which operates more than 50 veterinary reference laboratories, responded that it was “extremely disappointed” with the findings and would modify its advertising. AccuPlex4 and SNAP 4Dx Plus each test for heartworm and the pathogens that cause Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis. Idexx, headquartered in Westbrook, Maine, challenged these claims: Tests prove that AccuPlex4 provides significantly more accurate and sensitive testing of low-worm burden heartworm infection than SNAP 4Dx Plus, with the ability to detect positive results up to one week earlier. Tests prove that AccuPlex4 permits substantially earlier and more sensitive detection of Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis, with fewer false negatives, than SNAP 4Dx Plus. Tests prove that AccuPlex4’s Lyme disease test detects infection earlier and provides broader disease information than Idexx’s SNAP 4Dx Plus and stand-alone Quant C6 test, and can distinguish between false positive and exposure/infection. Unlike AccuPlex4, the Quant C6 Lyme disease test is not a quantitative test, cannot measure antibody response …
Elanco, FDA Say Trifexis Played No Role in Dog DeathsAugust 5, 2014 Trifexis, a flea killer and heartworm preventive introduced in 2011, is being blamed for nearly 1,000 dog deaths, but both the manufacturer and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cautioned that no evidence has been found tying the drug to the claims. Atlanta television station WSB learned after filing a Freedom of Information Act request that the FDA had received 965 complaints of Trifexis-related dog deaths. Pet owners have debated the drug’s safety on multiple websites and even started a Facebook page called Does Trifexis Kill Dogs? FDA, which approves and regulates human and animal drugs, acknowledged that dog owners and veterinarians have lodged formal complaints about Trifexis (spinosad and milbemycin oxime). “FDA is aware of adverse event reports in connection with Trifexis and continues to closely monitor them,” the agency reported in a prepared statement. “It is very important to realize that reports of adverse events do not necessarily mean that the product caused the event. Other factors, such as existing disease, exposure to chemicals or contaminants, foods, or other medications may have triggered or contributed to the cause of the event.” WSB-TV also reported in late July that 1,500 Trifexis complaints were …
CAPC Urges Additional Heartworm TestsAugust 4, 2014 The Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) has updated its heartworm guidelines to recommend that a microfilariae test be performed annually on all dogs in addition to the customary antigen test and that veterinarians consider administering tests twice a year in heartworm-prevalent areas. Reports of an increasing number of false-negative antigen results led the Salem, Ore., organization to modify the guidelines July 28 after a meeting of the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists. Some dogs appeared to have developed immune complexes that led to a rising number of false negatives involving commercial antigen tests. “Some of the CAPC parasitology specialists speculate that one of the reasons for the increase in these false-negative test results may be related to the practice of placing heartworm-infected dogs on long-term regimens of macrocyclic lactone preventives and antibiotics rather than treating them with an approved adulticide,” the organization stated. The combination treatment, known as the slow-kill method, came into favor with some veterinarians because of an ongoing shortage of Immiticide, an adulticide manufactured by Merial Ltd. Dogs managed with these protocols may experience prolonged inflammation, which could result in the formation of immune complexes that mask the detection …
Vets Stay Legal With Signing of Drug Mobility ActAugust 4, 2014 President Obama on Friday signed into law the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act, which permits practitioners to legally transport and dispense controlled drugs away from their registered offices and across state lines. The legislation, HR 1528, was introduced more than 15 months ago by the only veterinarians serving in Congress: Reps. Kurt Schrader, DVM, an Oregon Democrat, and Ted Yoho, DVM, a Florida Republican. “This bill will not only benefit all who practice large animal veterinary medicine but the farmers and ranchers who rely on them,” Dr. Yoho said. “This law will allow veterinarians to practice their profession without fear of unnecessary government intrusion.” The law permits what the Drug Enforcement Administration in recent years had considered a violation of the Controlled Substances Act—the administration of drugs by mobile, rural and wildlife veterinarians away from the practitioner’s registered workplace. DEA sent warning letters to some veterinarians, but no one was ever charged, the American Veterinary Medical Association reported. AVMA’s new president, Ted Cohn, DVM, thanked Obama and Congress for “allowing us complete access to the medications we need to fulfill our oath to society.” “The health and welfare of our nation’s wildlife, food …
Holding On To What Makes You Happy As A VeterinarianAugust 2, 2014 Follow Veterinary Practice News on Twitter at @vetpetnews. I’m guessing that when you realized you wanted to be a veterinarian, it wasn’t because you were super excited about doing paperwork or thinking only about the science side of it. When was the last time you took a step back from your day-to-day veterinary life, away from your clients and patients and even from your staff and practice and reflected on why you became a veterinarian or why the job makes you happy? The Society for Veterinary Medicine and Literature wants you to remember the reason, as well as help veterinary students hold on to that reason. “Literature can help them retain their sense of joy about becoming/being a veterinarian,” Dean Elizabeth Stone, DVM, MS, MPP of the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College said, according to The New York Times. According to their website, “The Society promotes the reading and discussion of literary works to explore important issues in veterinary medicine—and for the intrinsic pleasure and value of reading and discussing good literature, a way of renewing one's joy in being a veterinarian and …
Vet Schools Debut In Arizona, TennesseeAugust 1, 2014Amid the debate over whether veterinary school graduates can afford mortgage-sized tuition debt and whether the United States has too many practitioners comes Kathleen H. Goeppinger, Ph.D., who sees a reason to produce more veterinarians. “I know the world says, ‘Hey, vets don’t get paid enough’ and ‘Vet school is expensive,’ but I also know that the desire to be a vet is very strong in many people,” Goeppinger said. The president and CEO of Midwestern University this month opens the nation’s 29th veterinary college, while 1,620 miles to the east in Harrogate, Tenn., Lincoln Memorial University launches No. 30. The two newest veterinary colleges — each eligible for provisional accreditation from the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education — will add a combined 197 first-year students to the national rolls. Last year, the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges counted 2,981 first-year students among the 11,474 DVM students enrolled at 28 schools on U.S. soil. Lincoln Memorial, a private liberal arts college set in the Cumberland Mountains of eastern Tennessee, offers master’s programs in nursing and physician assistance and awards a doctoral degree in osteopathic medicine. Midwestern, which despite its name sits on the sun-baked desert floor of …
Liposuction For Pets: Procedure Becoming Increasingly PopularJuly 31, 2014 Follow Veterinary Practice News on Twitter at @vetpetnews. Our society is a bit obsessed with appearance. Countless ads pop up on radio, television and in magazines promoting breast augmentations, anti-aging creams and countless ways to lose weight (through exercise, weight-loss programs, special diets, medications and surgeries). One such option is liposuction. The ad may show a woman with a not-so-flat belly next to a picture of one with a toned stomach, telling people that liposuction was the answer. So when I saw in the news that liposuction was now available for pets, I thought our society had gone too far. But, like everything else, you have to read the fine print. Although referred to as liposuction, when the procedure is performed on pets it is not cosmetic (even if your client’s pet is hoping for a svelte figure). It’s actually used to improve the health of the pet. The non-invasive procedure removes the fat from lipomas in overweight and senior dogs. If gone untreated, they can grow quite large and impede the dog’s movement. “They can be really big,” Rebecca Pentecost, DVM, told Fox 8 Cleveland. …
