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AgVetLink: Number 57, August 2006

Staff update (change, change, change...)

New Programme Manager (Performance), Trish Whitaker

Trish takes over from Brian Pidford, who retired earlier this year. The role, which covered the area of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and trade in prescription animal remedies (PARs) and vertebrate toxic agents (VTAs), has been expanded. A major component of Trish’s new job will be reviewing programmes across the entire Approvals and ACVM spectrum to make certain they are working as intended (and as needed). For example, she will look at conditions on registration to ensure that they are appropriate to manage the relevant risks and not more or less restrictive than needed.

She is supported by Linley Thorburn, Advisor (Compliance and Monitoring), who is spending about 50% of her time in this area. The other half of Linley’s time is spent in operations, particularly border compliance.

Trish introduces herself: "I have worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years, primarily in veterinary biological manufacturing but also have had experience in GLP, residue testing and human cytotoxin manufacture for use in early phase clinical trials. I was educated and trained as a chemist but over the years my experience has centered on Quality Assurance and compliance. I have been a contract NZFSA auditor for Category 1 manufacturers and therefore have a working knowledge of the New Zealand industry."

New Programme Manager (Process and Performance, ACVM and Non-food Assessment), Neil Kennington

Neil’s previous position within the ACVM Group was Senior Advisor (Animals). For several years he has been a veterinary technical advisor with the Group. His new role as Programme Manager will not affect his relationship with registrants–it will be ‘business as usual’ for them.

Neil’s key priority is to manage the high levels of applications currently being received for both plant and veterinary products. There will be a focus on ensuring internal systems are efficient as well as robust, and on the quality of submissions and data assessments.

New Programme Manager (Approvals and ACVM Standards), Warren Hughes

Warren, who is known to many of you, has been with the ACVM Group for a number of years. He has moved from his position as Programme Manager (ACVM and Non-Food Assessment) to Programme Manager (Approvals and ACVM Standards).

Warren’s initial priorities for ACVM standards development will focus on the following key areas:

• management of antibiotic resistance in relation to the 2005 report produced by the Expert Panel on Antibiotic Resistance;

• the recently signed MOU with APVMA (see June 2005 AgVetLink, page 2) on working closer together will mean a significant collaboration between the two regulators. The work plan will mean reviewing requirements and standards in wide range of areas over the next five years;

• development of a number of standards and operational policies, with focus on residues/MRL and manufacturing-related areas;

• implementation of the ACVM Amendment Bill;

• NZ’s input into international standard setting.