Aquaculture Drugs - Veterinary Feed Directives and Extra Label Use

This is an educational webinar for veterinarians and farmers focused on Veterinarian Feed Directive (VFD) and Extra Label Drug Use (ELDU) regulations and the real-world practicalities and decision making to implement them.

The FDA classified all medicated feeds for aquaculture as VFD drugs in 2017. VFD drugs must be used within the confines of a veterinary client patient relationship (VCPR) in which the veterinarian and client agree on their use and abide by regulations governing usage. Veterinarians can prescribe VFD drugs based on clinical signs and lesions of fishes; it is not necessary to wait for results of laboratory tests. For example, if the clinical signs and lesions on a fish appear diagnostic of Edwardsiella ictaluri infection, the veterinarian can prescribe a VFD drug on label for treatment of that disease. If the bacterial culture of that fish grows a bacterium other than E. ictaluri, the treatment is still considered on label because the veterinarian ordered the VFD drug based on clinical lesions. Technically, it is still illegal to use a VFD feed in an extra label manner. If the veterinarian realizes that the fish disease is not on label for a particular medicated feed prior to treatment, he or she can still order a VFD feed for ELDU under certain circumstances. FDA has agreed to use regulatory discretion for ELDU of a VFD drug in minor species. These points will be discussed in detail during the presentations.

Presenters:
Dr. Patricia (Pat) Gaunt is a Professor Emerita at Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine having worked for 23 years providing diagnostic service for catfish farmers and performing aquatic pharmaceutical and toxicology research. Her research led to the approval of Aquaflor® (florfenicol) for enteric septicemia in catfish and for columnaris disease in warmwater fishes. Aquaflor became the first veterinary feed directive drug for use in aquaculture in 2005. Dr. Gaunt is very familiar with the rules governing VFD.

Dr. Guppy Blair currently serves as Branch Chief for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) Aquatic Animal Drug Approval Partnership (AADAP) Program located in Bozeman, MT. Her path to this position included a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Upon graduation, she worked short stints at a mixed animal practice and then as a fish pathologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife before she started her federal career at the Service’s Idaho Fish Health Center where she worked for over 20 years in fish health before moving to AADAP in 2018.