AVDA elects new board

AVDA introduced its newly elected chairman and board of directors for 2010-2011. The directors and officers were elected at AVDA’s Annual Meeting held in Napa, Calif.
Mary Pat Thompson of MWI Veterinary Supply will be leading AVDA as Chairman. Thompson is the Senior VP for Finance and Administration and CFO of MWI Veterinary Supply and has served on the AVDA board since 2006. Supporting Thompson will be AVDA’s cabinet of officers including President, Ben Coe of Butler Schein Animal Health; President-Elect, Mark Ziller of Lextron; and George Henriques of Webster Veterinary Supply as Immediate Past Chairman.
Newly elected directors to the board include: Bobby Mims of Merritt Veterinary Supply and Bob Zeide of PCI Animal Health. Mims and Zeide previously served on the board and were elected to three-year terms as directors. Continuing on the board as active member directors are Tim O’Neill of IVESCO and Roberta Bruget of Nelson Laboratories.
Brad Butler of CEVA Animal Health will continue to represent the Associate membership as associate member director, and Amy Harlacher of Miltex, Inc. will continue as alternate associate member director.
The AVDA board will meet in September for a board meeting and strategic planning session to help the association identify the major goals and initiatives for AVDA in the coming year and to solicit ideas for topics and speakers from its manufacturer partners. More details about the meeting will be posted on the AVDA website soon and solicitation letters for sponsorship will be mailed to members in October.

Drug compounding brochure being revised

Representatives from the Animal Health Institute (AHI), American Veterinary Distributors Association (AVDA) and American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) have been working closely over the past six months to revise the informational brochure on veterinary compounding that was originally published in 2005. The Compounding Brochure working group recommended revising the brochure because significant changes had occurred in the legislative and regulatory arena regarding compounding since the last publication date. When the brochure was originally published in 2005, 100,000 copies were printed and nearly all have been distributed to veterinarians and others in the animal health industry.
The purpose of the brochure is to better familiarize veterinarians and others in the veterinary supply channel (distributors, sales representatives, etc.) with regulations that apply to compounding. The brochure also differentiates between FDA approved drugs and compounded drugs; explains the specific circumstances under which veterinarians are legally permitted to utilize compounded drug products; and explains what practices are not permitted according to federal guidelines. Manufacturer and distributor sales representatives will be able to use this brochure as a detail piece for veterinarians.
Revisions are nearly complete and AVDA will be sending a draft copy of the brochure to members later this year. If you are interested in seeing a draft of the revised version of the brochure, please contact AVDA Executive Director, Jackie King, at (443) 640-1040 x105.