Sarcoma task force receives funding

Published on
information-circle This article is more than 3 years old

The Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force met March 19, 2000 at the AAHA headquarters office in Denver, and awarded grants to research proposals scored by independent reviewers. Several study proposals built on the findings of previous studies funded by the task force.

Novartis Animal Health, with a gift of $25,000, and Intervet Inc, Merial Ltd, and Schering-Plough Animal Health, each with a gift of $10,000, kicked off the 1999-2000 funding, and additional funds have been pledged.

The task force will prepare and distribute a white paper summarizing task force study findings, their possible implications for clinical practice, and the direction they suggest for future studies. Although 2000 marks the finale of this three-year project, the AVMA Executive Board in April approved a recommendation to support one additional telephone conference call in April and one meeting in July so the task force can plan to transfer the remaining portion of its goal — summarizing research results and continuing information sharing — to another organizational entity.

The Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force is an alliance of four national veterinary organizations — AVMA, AAFP, AAHA, and Veterinary Cancer Society — along with representatives from academe, industry, and the USDA-APHIS. For activity updates, monitor the task force's Web site at www.avma.org/vafstf/default.asp.