Controversies: A Mixed Bag Of Medications

Wayne McIlwraith, BVSc, PhD, DSc, FRCVS, DrMedVet (hc), Dipl. ACVS, director of Colorado State University's Gail Holmes Equine Orthopaedic Research Center, presented "Licensed Medications, 'Generic' Medications, Compounding, and Nutraceuticals–What has Been Scientifically Validated, Where Do We Encounter Scientific Mistruth, and Where are We Legally?"

The long title was needed for the scope of the discussion, and McIlwraith did a thorough job of educating the veterinarians in attendance on the current state of the industry.

He said many of the medications, supplements, and additives available today to horse owners and veterinarians can raise legal and ethical issues in the industry. He said many unethical and/or unlicensed products cause frustrations for manufacturers who spend millions of dollars researching new drugs, just to have illegal products claiming equivalency and taking product sales from licensed products. To add to the problem, many of the illegal products are not efficacious, or might not even contain the active ingredient