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The primary focus for the University of Florida component of FARAD is three-fold: (1) complete the re-design and expansion of information services that are freely available in various electronic formats, including the main FARAD web site, the VetGRAM (Veterinarian's Guide to Residue Avoidance Management) web site and the on-line drug Withdrawal Interval (WDI) lookup tool; (2) continue to perform weekly reviews of Federal Register notices related to animal drug regulations and to incorporate relevant changes in regulations in our searchable databases, including new drug approvals, changes in approved food animal drug uses, changes in drug residue tolerances and updates in approved drug withdrawal times; and (3) continue to collaborate with FARAD investigators at UC Davis NCSU and KSU to develop and validate computational estimates of a safe withdrawal intervals for drugs that are commonly used off label in food animals. <P>During the past year, (1) UF undertook a major revision and expansion of on-line information resources in order to meet the changing needs of food-animal veterinarians, livestock producers and others who routinely use our resources. Based on usage patterns and feedback from veterinary practitioners who routinely use our resources (more than 10,000 hits per year), our main web site (www.farad.org), has been re-structured to provide direct access to the most frequently used resources. In addition, VetGRAM will be redesigned to allow for user-selected searches of food-animal drug approvals and regulations. This search engine will allow veterinarians to quickly identify those drugs that are best suited to each individual animal and to obtain the most up-to-date regulations regarding use of those agents in food animals. In conjunction with these revisions in VetGRAM, UF has been working to develop a native mobile phone application that will provide all of the capabilities offered through VetGRAM. Once completed, the mobile app will be made available free to users and will be designed as a native android app to provide practitioners with complete access to up-to-date information on all approved food animal drugs in a readily searchable format. We anticipate initial launch of this mobile app product in late 2012 or early 2013. <br/>(2) Every week, UF workers conduct detailed reviews of the Federal Register to extract the latest information pertaining to drug approvals in food animal species, both major (cattle, pigs, turkeys and chickens) and minor (goats, sheep, game birds, bison, etc.) species. This process of information extraction and database updates will be continued. Usage statistics for our on-line resources demonstrate heavy and growing use of FARAD resources. <br/>(3) The WDI Lookup Tool was developed to provide drug withdrawal interval recommendations for several approved drugs that are commonly used in an extra-label manner (different route of administration, dose regimen, etc.) in food animals. Usage of this on-line resource has grown remarkably and we continue to expand this database.
Non-Technical Summary:<br/>
The Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD), which has existed since 1982 and is funded by USDA/CSREES, is a collaborative project among colleges of veterinary medicine at North Carolina State University [NCSU], the University of California at Davis [UCD] and the University of Florida [UFL]. The overarching goal of FARAD is to protect the integrity of and maintain production of safe foods of animal origin through the prevention and mitigation of violative chemical residues in food animal products. While the users of FARAD are veterinarians, regulatory agencies, and extension specialists, the ultimate client is the general public who can consume foods of animal origin that are free of harmful drug and chemical residues. FARAD originated with the Residue Avoidance Program (RAP) in 1982 as a repository of residue avoidance information and educational materials. FARAD has now evolved into an expert-mediated residue avoidance decision support system, which provides timely advice and information on a wide range of drug and chemical entities. This ability has proved vital to the execution of the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1994 (AMDUCA) regulations that legalized the extralabel use of drugs by veterinarians. AMDUCA regulations require that extralabel use of drugs in food animals be based on sound principles of residue avoidance. The National Research Council acknowledged FARAD as the primary source of this information.
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Approach:<br/>
The University of Florida component of FARAD will continue to collect relevant drug approval information from the Federal Register and other sources for entry into the US Approved Animal Drugs Database (US-AADD). A shift by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to limit or reduce data release in the Federal Register has resulted in the incorporation of more information in the Freedom of Information (FOI) summaries for the drug product approval packet. While this provides more detailed information for incorporation into US-AADD, the process of data extraction has become a more labor intensive and requires greater mahnpower to carry out. The major change in the database structure with integration of tolerance data through use of Chemical Abstract Services (CAS) numbers has been completed. This was a major change in the database as it allowed cross referencing active ingredients without regard to NADA or ANADA numbers. A subset of CAS numbers was used to allow the EWE algorithm automatic access to tolerance data while maintaining the ability to link gFARAD databases independent of languages. A new species coding is now under development to make possible easier integration of the various gFARAD databases and simplify handling FDA approved drug data. VetGRAM has been mounted on the FARAD server at NCSU for nearly 3 years without problems. During that time it has proven robust and attracted widespread support. Similarly the NRSP-7 website database of drugs approved for minor species (MUMSRx) has been maintained.