Save the date! 26-27 November 2008, Prague

Vaccines: They get the animal health people talking

If the topics I’ve been discussing this week with the Animal Health industry are anything to go by, AnimalPharm’s Veterinary Vaccines conference this year promises to be an exciting event.

The main topics which have emerged as being particularly important this year are many and varied but have centred around emerging diseases and especially Blue Tongue.

People are interested to hear about the public perceptions surrounding vaccination:

How governments are planning policy to respond to the threat of emerging diseases; how regulators have responded to the rapid requirement for the blue tongue vaccine; the final draft of annex I and what it means for industry; compare and contrast between the two vaccines which have been developed for blue tongue; lessons which can be learnt from the Pirbright foot and mouth outbreak; how the new variations legislation will affect veterinary vaccines; how the DCP is being harmonised across the Member States; the development of the blue tongue vaccine; overcoming problems in the manufacture process of a vaccine; industry and national planning for emerging diseases; technology updates for novel vaccine vectors; recombinant vaccines; adjuvant technology; vector vaccines...

The media circus outside the Institute of Animal Health, Pirbright, Surrey. The incident is another talking point Photo: Salina Christmas

...DNA vaccines; prime boost vaccines; plant vaccines; delayed release systems; alternative administration techniques; views of different countries on rolling out vaccination programmes for avian influenza (AI); selecting for animals which respond well to vaccination; vector borne diseases; fish vaccines; pox viruses; viral particle vaccines; development of activated pan-reactive vaccines; the melanoma vaccine for canines; parasitic vaccines, and advice for registering products in Europe and the US.

So… as you can see, I’ve got my work cut out trying to fit all of these topics into a mere two-day agenda (!) but with the level of innovative work going on in the veterinary vaccines arena at the moment and the excellent guidance I have received from people working in this area, I am sure that the result will be a highly topical and interesting meeting.

If there are any topics or specific speakers that you would like to see at the veterinary vaccines conference, or if you yourself are interested in speaking this November please leave a comment!

Labour of love

Because he's worth it: Wiggles the wombat receives treatment at the Queensland's Wombat Research Centre. The project is supported by Bioniche Animal Health A/Asia Photo: Wombat Research Centre

Veterinarians deserve more recognition for their pro bono works, says Dr Mark Lawrie, President-elect of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA).

The AVA marked World Veterinary Day, which fell on 26th April 2008, by recognising the contribution of veterinarians to society. According to Dr Lawrie, whilst other professions such as the law industry are recognised for their pro bono work and contribution to society, the contribution by veterinarians is not often acknowledged.

According to the AVA, Australian vets do almost AUD$30 million (£14.2 million) of pro bono work each year. “The average veterinary practice performs approximately $16,565 worth of pro bono work each year. The cost of treating an animal may include the cost of consultation, hospitalisation, treatment, euthanasia and disposal of the animal,” Dr Lawrie said.

"Veterinarians are deeply committed to the care and welfare of animals and each year, the profession donates millions of dollars of unpaid veterinary services treating sick or injured stray pets, wildlife or livestock. This is in addition to the work done by volunteer veterinarians on charity projects throughout the developing world and remote communities in Australia."

At the time of writing, I am in the middle of interviewing Warren Waybright, one of the winners of the Vet Penn Student Inspiration Award. Waybright, a third year student at Vet Penn - and a Gettysburg native - plans to use the US$100,000 (in unrestricted funding) won to develop a veterinary outreach program to Bolivia and other South American countries.

He doesn't have to do it, but this is the thing I admire about people of philanthropic nature: they don't have to do the good works. Maybe some do it out of a sense of duty, but most do it because they want to. Sir Peter Hall, not quite a veterinarian but equally inspiring nonetheless, hit the nail on the head when he said: "No one has a duty to do anything. Never make that mistake. Do what you're passionate about."

PetScreen founders' Graeme Radcliffe (pictured, right) with his dogs Libby, Hugo and Saskia, and Dr Kevin Slater (pictured, left). The company provides MAF with financial help for two canine research studies Photo: PetScreen

I do wonder if the media, especially the trade press, could have helped more in highlighting the veterinarians' pro bono works. Editors in general, because of the news slant or the commercial pressures put on them, often put the philanthropic or corporate social responsibility (CSR) news aside to give priority to 'hard' news - the facts and the numbers that are needed by the readers to make informed decisions.

If the news selection is motivated by commerce, then perhaps it's good for the vets, in particular the UK ones, to let the press know that every company in the UK that is worth more than £5 million must have a CSR programme. So you can assume that a major corporation (the media's potential advertiser) has a budget for CSR. Nowadays, we see a lot of ads by major corporations highlighting their green projects or community works, an indication that their Marketing departments are very aware of the opportunities these initiatives offer, at least in terms of publicity.

We try to highlight the good works done by veterinarians and also animal health companies, especially on our website, where we have the least space and time constraint. Some animal health companies seem to be doing a lot of CSR works through partnerships with various associations for projects such as the Morris Animal Foundation, Barbaro Memorial Fund and The European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases (ABCD).

If there are any veterinary associations out there that want to have their pro bono works highlighted, do tell us. We can't promise they will be featured in all of our products, but they'd probably get a mention on this blog.

My goodness, my Guinness

Networking (and drinking) in action: Alex Tait, VMD (second left), Noel Joseph, VMD (third left), Olivier Roy, Cebiphar (second right)

The Animal Pharm Events team enjoy a welcome drink. From left: Caroline Capon, Gemma Cook and Emma Williams

Drinks in the bar for all!

Bottled! Display at the Guinness Storehouse

We just received these lovely photos by Olivier Roy of Cebiphar from Naomi Gill, our Divisional Marketing Manager of Life Sciences Conferences.

You can't do Dublin without a trip to the Guinness factory. Well, I missed out on that one during my first visit in 1999. Being a rugby and a rowing fan, I was more obsessed with the old Landsdowne Road Stadium and the river.

As one of the highlights of the Informa Life Sciences' 4th Annual Regulation of Veterinary Medicines in Europe conference, which took place in Dublin from 4th to 5th of March, our Life Sciences crew took the delegates to the factory for some networking and for some Guinness sampling.

If you are in the photos, let us know! And if you've got any photos of the Informa Life Sciences events you've been to, do send them to us. Who knows, we might even open a dedicated online photo gallery just for the event attendees and Animal Pharm readers.

Our reporter and online sub-editor, Jo Power, was there to cover the event. You can read more about it on our website.

Feeding the 300 million

It must be tough for food producers having to choose between profit margins and political correctness. Don’t use antibiotics and your productivity suffers. Use the drugs and you could be inviting a PR disaster Photo: Jonathan Ng

You can make your brand look good in two ways: by accentuating the positive and playing down the negative, or by making others look bad so you look good.

Although it might involve some omission of truth, the former is highly recommended. The latter invites bad blood and bad karma, and should only be left to political campaigns.

Recently, US chicken companies Purdue Farms and Sanderson Farms claimed that their rival, Tyson Foods, did the latter by running an advertisement campaign championing its “raised without antibiotics” chickens. Purdue and Sanderson claimed that in doing so, Tyson insinuated to the consumers that its competitions are using the drugs.

The outcome of the court case will not be known for some time, and we are not in the business to judge who is wrong or who is right. However, it is interesting to note how careful food marketers are when dealing with the word “antibiotics”.

In life science reporting, we don't normally discuss semantics or any obscure branch of sociolinguistics that dwells on the emotional association of a word, but even our own report author couldn't help but comment on the definitions of "antibiotics".

“The term ‘antibiotic’ has become somewhat debased in recent years, at least in the eyes of the animal health industry, as it has been used by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the media in a general in a pejorative sense,” says the Animal Pharm report on Antibacterials in the Animal Health Industry. “It has become associated with scare stories about super-bugs and over-intensive livestock farming.”

The report goes on explain the difference between ‘antibiotics’, ‘antibacterials’, ‘antimicrobials’ and ‘anti-infective’, and what the antibacterials are actually used for.

Antibacterials, it elaborates, do not have any direct effect on viral pathogens. Their use in outbreaks of clinical disease involving viruses is aimed at “combating any secondary infections by opportunistic bacteria which may be present either in the environment or as part of the normal commensal flora of a healthy animal”.

To change the consumers' perception of antibiotics, the public needs to be educated, and more research should be done into new ways of slowing down the much-feared antibiotic resistance, says the Ain Shams Scientific Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (ASSPSA) of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University, Egypt.

Not long ago, the association published a paper on the importance of antibiotics. Entitled Antibiotics Abuse, the paper maintains that “the discovery of antibiotics was a leap in modern medicine. Antibiotics are the cornerstone for the prevention and treatment of numerous respiratory infections”.

It explains the reason behind the abuse of antibiotics in farming. “Cleverly, the antibiotics are called ‘antimicrobial growth promoters’, or AGPs. The reason why they are so desirable is that they increase growth and feed efficiency in animals by 2% to 4%,” the paper says.

“If you are a livestock farmer, 2% to 4% may be more than even your profit margin. To the farmers, there could be perceived negative ramifications to not using antimicrobial growth promoters”.

A diner (pictured, left) enjoying his all-you-can-eat breakfast in New Orleans, Louisiana, US. Mass food consumption means mass food production Photo: Kess Bohan/Sojournposse

Apparently, the US livestock farming cannot do without growth-promoting antibiotics, according to Peter Hughes and John Heritage of the Division of Microbiology, School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Leeds.

In their paper, Antibiotic Growth-Promoters in Food Animals, published on the FAO website, the authors state: “The Animal Health Institute of America (AHI, 199) has estimated that, without the use of growth promoting antibiotics, the USA would require an additional 452 million chickens, 23 million more cattle and 12 million more pigs to reach the levels of production attained by the current practices.”

It must be tough for food producers having to choose between profit margins and political correctness. Don’t use antibiotics and your productivity suffers. Use the drugs and you could be inviting a PR disaster.

Like many rich nations, the US diet consists of a high proportion of meat. Ironically, not every American is rich enough to afford alternative diets inspired by ethics or healthy lifestyles. Without the use of growth promoting antibiotics in livestock farming, how is it possible for the US to feed her 300 million?

Fame from the ocean floor

The Pompeii worm, found only at hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean. For $50,000, you can name a rare hydrothermal vent worm Photo: DRI

If you have ever wanted a strange shaped creature from deep in the ocean to carry your name or the name of someone you love, now is your chance. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of Southern California is attempting to fix a hole in its budget by selling the opportunity to name new species of marine life that it discovers every year. The Institition holds several of the most important libraries of ocean specimens, and is referenced by scientists from all over the world.

Traditionally, the person who first describes a new plant or animal gets to name it. However, Scripps feels that the opportunity to name a deep sea worm or nudibranch after oneself or a respected friend or relation could be something of a moneyspinner. Although some new species have already been named, like the stout infantfish now called Schindleria brevipinguis, there are still nameless creatures waiting to be labelled.

Potential buyers can name a rare hydrothermal vent worm for $50,000, two types of worms that live on deep-sea whale bones for $25,000 each or a spiny worm that lives in the kelp fields of La Jolla cove at a mere $10,000. In addition, Scripps has several more species just waiting to be named. Buyers will receive a framed print of their organism and a copy of the scientific publication in which it is first described.

Greg Rouse, curator of an invertebrate collection at Scripps, says: "By supporting the collections through species naming, donors have an opportunity for their name, or the name of a person they love or respect, to be immortalised forever." Mr Rouse should know – a feather-duster worm from Australia, Pseudofabriciola rousei, has been named after him. He goes on: "This type of unique gift highlights the vast unknown diversity in the sea that Scripps scientists are working to document and describe."
For more details, contact the Scripps Development Office at supportscripps@ucsd.edu.

Bird flu: It's not just about the bottomline

I expected the Malaysian government's emphasis on commerce and manufacturing to gradually push the locals away from their agricultural roots, but I didn't expect the avian flu pandemic to be killing the people's lifestyle like this.

Three weeks ago, I brought my other half, of British and Australian descent, to the regions of northern Malaysia and Thailand for the first time. We drove down from Penang to a maritime disctrict called Lumut, home to the country's biggest naval base and to a huge shipping industry.

He was impressed by the quaint Malaysian villages, but wondered where on earth the chickens were. Except for one or two cows, there were no other animals to be seen alongside the village roads.

Well, the bird flu pandemic happened.

Up until four years ago, it was common for the locals, even those with office jobs, to keep poultry at home. Poultry was kept not only for consumption. My mother kept hers as pets. You might find it strange to have chickens as pets, but these birds - although not clever enough to perform various tricks like dogs - are very good at recognising their owners (they don't like to be fed by strangers), and that they are actually homing birds, like pigeons. You can let them out during the day, but they always come back to you in the evening. Even better, they lay you eggs. Dogs and cats can't do that.

Of course, the pandemic meant that many had to be culled. I never was keen on poultry - I used to be quite embarrassed by my mother's hobby - but I did feel sorry for her when she had to give away her geese. She didn't have the heart to kill them.

She will, however, be very glad to know that water fowls could be the culprits behind the spread of avian flu in Southeast Asia. It is just not wise to have them around the house.

Recently, we reported on an FAO research which finds that ducks in rice cultivation areas could be behind the spread of avian influenza in Southeast Asia (Animal Pharm, 7 April 2008).

"The researchers modeled how different factors contributed to the spread of the highly pathogenic virus in Thailand and Viet Nam. The numbers of ducks and people, along with the extent of rice cultivation, were the most significant factors, even though each country had pursued its own disease control strategy," according to our news report.

"Ducks graze on leftover rice grains in harvested paddy fields. In Thailand, the number of young ducks in flocks peaks in September to October, when rice paddies become a haven for wild birds. Ducks are slaughtered in late winter at the time of Chinese New Year, when sales-related duck movement is at its highest. The peaks in duck congregation increase the likelihood of virus transmission."

Imagine no ducks on Chinese New Year. Could you imagine Christmas without turkeys at all?

The veterinary industry's role is so much more than preventing diseases and curing sick animals. It's not simply about improving the agricultural bottomline by limiting the damages done to the economy.

In this part of the world, poultry and humans have lived side by side for centuries. It is a relationship that has defined their diet, and their ways of living. Some people keep horses or dogs; this lot prefers poultry. Advances in avian influenza research will save not just human lives, but also a people's culture.

Talk is cheap, and effective

"Companies must ask themselves where their corporate cultures end. If their cultures end before the community begins, they will have no market."

Those are stern words from The Cluetrain Manifesto, the digital marketing bible, but judging from the latest survey released by Fleischman-Hillard, there is a whole lot of truth in them.

The survey, conducted in association with the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), basically says three things:

1. Word of mouth is the new advertising.
2. The corporate marketing practice of accentuating the positive and burying the negative is confusing and boring the consumers.
3. The market is cleverer than you think.

Out of 2000 veterinary professionals surveyed last December, only 10% relied on information from consumer-oriented websites about pet care. A whopping 65% didn't buy web-based information from veterinary supply and equipment manufacturers.

Instead, they'd rather go to the websites of veterinary associations, veterinary school or research organizations, and veterinary clinic or animal hospital. About 78% expressed confidence in information gained from veterinary schools and research institutions.

What it means is that the veterinary community is a highly networked community. They trust peer recommendations, but they are highly sceptical of companies.

The survey also claims that 'most veterinarians said that online information confused their clients'.

It doesn't take a clever person to figure out that a brochure website littered with lengthy corporate goobledygook and boring jargons is not doing the business any favour. Consumers don't get them, vets don't like them.

In October last year, we covered the Veterinary Marketing Association (VMA)’s seminar on e-communication. One of the speakers, Mr Felix Velarde of Underwired (pictured), told the audience: "If you can prove your point in a few web pages, why do you need pages and pages of text to promote your products?”

During a coffee break, I asked him what he thought of animal health websites in general. His answer wasn't flattering, but it could be interpreted as 'could do better'.

In an effort to control the message to consumers, some companies sacrifice clarity and creativity. Bad briefs breed boring results. And the results - corporate speak and dull design - are off-putting. Sure, companies spend lots of money trying to get the right message across about their products to the right people, but they can't control how they are perceived anymore in the new media landscape.

So what to do? According to the Cluetrain, companies should start talking to their market. "The community of discourse is the market," it says. "Companies that do not belong to a community of discourse will die." Don’t just look over the trees to find an equally big competition, it says. The internet revolution is “bottom-up”. Look down to your feet. That is where the community is.

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