For nearly 84 years, the US Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act has demanded that any drug intended for humans be tested in animals before human clinical trials commence. If Congress passes a package of reforms for the Food and Drug Administration as expected, that mandate could be reversed this […]
Many of this column’s readers have likely heard of the stories using ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19 in humans. Last August, in a Health Alert from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, poison control centers across the US were seeing a sharp spike in reports of people […]
Ian Neville writes from the UK The relentless commodification of veterinary healthcare in the UK is becoming ever clearer, as existing large, corporate practice groups coalesce or are acquired by multinational private equity firms. The days of local, privately owned practice seem inevitably to be drawing to a close. Business […]
I recently came across a paper entitled, A loss-of-function mutation in RORB disrupts saltatorial locomotion in rabbits. What struck me was not saltorial locomotion (the hopping gait of rabbits and kangaroos) but the image of a rabbit walking on its forelimbs while the hindlimbs are lifted from the ground. I […]
Tom Donnelly reports from the USA. The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed a temporary relaxation of rules around remote animal care by veterinary telemedicine. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) fiercely contends that establishing a “veterinarian-client-patient relationship” (VCPR) by in-person examination is a prerequisite for telemedicine. Many states use the AVMA’s model […]
