The AVMA has made two changes to its Prescribing and Dispensing Complaint Form. Dr. Elizabeth Curry-Galvin, assistant director of the AVMA Scientific Activities Division, encourages individuals to use the form. "Compliance is in everyone's best interest, and the form helps alert regulators to the nature and frequency of observed concerns," she says.

The AVMA started providing the form in response to complaints about pharmacy practices that were contrary to regulations and inconsistent with best patient care. For example, the AVMA receives a number of calls about Internet pharmacies that supply prescription drugs to consumers without the authorization of a veterinarian who has a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Since January of 2003, 54 individuals have used the form.

The updated form has two changes. First, it now includes a drug compounding complaint category. The Association is greatly concerned with the aggressive promotion of compounded transdermal drugs for which little to no animal safety and efficacy data exist. In addition, some firms are passing their compounded products off as essentially similar to FDA-approved drugs.

The second change is to include a specific query about whether the AVMA can use a person's name and contact information in future correspondence with regulatory agencies. The Association hopes this will cut down on the amount of legwork needed when they want to provide a name to a regulatory agency.

When an individual makes a complaint, the AVMA provides assistance by helping people to report their observations to the proper regulatory agencies, including the FDA, state boards of pharmacy, and state boards of veterinary medicine.

The updated form can be found at www.avma.org/scienact/prescribing/complaint_form.pdf.