Equine consortium panel

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Morris Animal Foundation has been involved in supporting equine research for many years. Recently, they devised a plan to encourage experts from around the world to work collectively together to more effectively address serious animal health issues. Their desire is to fund consortium grants and “large scale multi-year grants” outside of the traditional grants that are given each year. As part of the planning process, Morris Animal Foundation convened an expert panel in December of 2005 to address five key issues:

Dr. Douglas Antczak from the Baker Institute at Cornell University facilitated the panel, which included experts in the areas of science, intellectual property, industry, associations, foundation, government, and business. The word “consortium” was defined as a group of experts who work within or across disciplines spanning various institutions, industries, and possibly other countries.

There was considerable discussion as to how health/welfare issues should be prioritized. This could be done based on incidence or prevalence of the disease, diseases that affect the largest numbers of horses, diseases that cause the greatest suffering, or diseases that have the greatest economic impact to owners. The panel suggested that a variety of factors be weighed. The group settled on respiratory illness, lameness, and inflammation as areas of high interest that could be addressed through a consortium effort.

They suggested that, for a consortium to work, many diverse partners would need to be involved, including horse owners, non-profit foundations/organizations, governmental agencies, university and industry researchers, biotechnology experts, business people, venture capitalists, veterinarians and veterinary associations, pharmaceutical companies, and intellectual property experts.

One area that is potentially problematic is ownership of the information generated, including royalties, patents, publication rights, samples, and so forth.

Some of the panelists felt that a separate review process might be necessary for these large consortium grants. Obviously, the big problem with these multi-year consortium grants would be raising the funds. This was certainly a major part of the discussion by the panel. One group suggested that a new equine health/welfare consortium be developed, consisting of foundations that currently fund/coordinate equine research (eg, Morris Animal Foundation, Grayson Jockey Club, Research Foundation of the American Quarter Horse Association, American Association of Equine Practitioners, and others).

Scientists on the panel suggested that a minimum of $500,000 per year for 5 years would be needed to initiate the first equine consortium grants. Several suggestions were presented as to how these funds could be raised. Obviously, from a scientist's viewpoint, multi-year, multi-university grants would be ideal for those that actually obtain the funding. However, for universities and scientists that may not be as competitive, this possibly could minimize the amount of money available to other universities and to young scientists that may not have a track record.

I certainly applaud the Morris Animal Foundation for recognizing that funding for equine research is inadequate. I look forward to seeing this equine research program developed in the near future.