The agenda for the Pet Meds Workshop taking place on October 2, 2012, at the FTC Conference Center in Washington D.C. has been announced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The distribution of pet medications and how business practices affect consumer choice and competition will be discussed through a series of participant-hosted panels. Opening remarks will be from FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz and workshop framing remarks will be from Stephanie Wilkinson, FTC Attorney Advisor, Office of Policy Planning.
According to Ashley Morgan, DVM, assistant director of the AVMA’s Government Relations Division, the FTC is eager to participate in providing as much accurate information as possible about veterinary prescription writing as they can. The pending Fairness to Pet Owners Act, H.R. 1406, would require veterinarians to always provide a written prescription to clients. It is the goal of the AVMA to promote the understanding that more things are required that just “jotting it down on a piece of paper and sending clients of their way.”
The introductory presentation will be given by Adrian Hochstadt, the assistant of the AVMA’s State Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Division. The workshop concludes with the FTC’s Andrew I. Gavil, director, Office of Policy Planning, giving the closing remarks.
One of the panels being presented by the FTC’s Sydney Knight, attorney, Division of Advertising Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, is “Lessons Learned from the Contact Lens Industry.” The contact lens industry will be used as a model to the pet medication industry to discuss consumer cost savings potential along with non-price benefits that would occur as a result of expansion of pet medication distribution and prescription portability.
The full workshop agenda along with information about presenters and further news can be found at
http://www.ftc.gov/opp/workshops/petmeds/index.shtml.