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Dead polo ponies: Pharmacy admits an error
By Gina Spadafori
April 23, 2009
Human error. The scary thing is that a mistake like this could happen anywhere, to any person or animal. From CNN:
A veterinary pharmacy in Florida acknowledged Thursday that it incorrectly prepared medication used to treat 21 horses who all died around the time of an international polo match last weekend.
The deaths of the ponies, witnessed in full view by spectators Sunday in a dramatic scene where horses collapsed one after another, have shaken the prestigious polo tournament at the marquee International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida.
An internal investigation by Franck’s Pharmacy in Ocala, Florida, “concluded that the strength of an ingredient in the medication was incorrect. We will cooperate fully with the authorities as they continue their investigations,” the company said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon.
Update: The Associated Press has more details. Those horses died because those in charge of them thought these equine athletes could do better with a little something extra:
Unable to legally bring a supplement into the U.S. to make their horses more resilient, a Venezuelan polo team used another way to get ready for a champion match: Have a pharmacy mix up the concoction.
[...]
The Lechuza polo team had hoped to get a compound similar to a name-brand supplement used safely around the world to help horses with exhaustion but hasn’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Veterinarians commonly turn to compounding pharmacies for medications that can’t be found on shelves, but the dispensaries can only recreate unapproved drugs in limited circumstances.
A Florida pharmacy that mixed the medication said Thursday that an internal review found “the strength of an ingredient in the medication was incorrect.” Jennifer Beckett, chief operating officer for Franck’s Pharmacy in Ocala, Fla., would not say whether the incorrect amount was specified in the order that came from a Florida veterinarian.
What a damn shame. Why we have to screw around with performance-enhancing substances for ourselves or animals with whom we compete I have no idea. it’s no surprise that polo ponies are getting performance-enhancing products, considering the ongoing scandals in all other sports, including, of course, horse-racing.
Update 2: The Sun-Sentinel reports the FDA has an issue with what the horses were given:
Still, clues have come together as an Ocala-based pharmacy acknowledged it incorrectly mixed a vitamin compound given to the horses just hours before they died — a compound the Lechuza Caracas polo team says an unidentified Florida veterinarian requested.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the compound is of questionable legality and attorneys say there could be costly consequences for its use.
Here. This is one big sad mess on so many levels.
Update 3: Messier and messier. From the Palm Beach Post (h/t to PJ Boosinger, commenting on the Dolittler blog):
The news came as the politically-connected Venezuelan multi-millionaire who owns the 21 horses indicated that he suspects his team’s own veterinarian may have played a role in the deaths of some of the polo ponies, according to a letter from a Philadelphia lawyer.
In a letter to polo team veterinarian Dr. James Belden, an attorney representing the insurer of a company owned by Victor Vargas, says its investigation revealed that a generic compounded version of Biodyl was administered to 12 ponies prior to their deaths before a match at the International Polo Club Palm Beach on Sunday. It is unclear why the letter references only 12; 21 horses are believed to have received the supplement.
Attorney William Gericke wrote that Belden ordered the compound from Franck’s Pharmacy in Ocala.
“Since you ordered the Biodyl from Franck’s Pharmacy that was administered to the horses, I believe there may be a possibility that my client may look to you as a party who has some responsibility for the loss,” Gericke wrote.
Here. I guess my question would be why anyone was prescribing or anyone was filling a prescription for a generic equivalent of a substance illegal in this country. That would appear to be the FDA’s question, too.
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So horribly sad. What a waste. There are certain industries we should be able to trust are checking, double checking, and triple checking.
Was it Dennis Quaid whose twins were given an almost deadly overdose at a hospital within the past year?
Comment by Original Lori — April 23, 2009 @ 11:06 am
This is just awful. I just called my pharmacist hubby about it to let him know. He agreed with me when I said that there could have been a problem with the rx from the vet (formulation off) or that it was scribbled and not read correctly. That is typically how so many folks are affected when rx errors are analyzed.
I just cannot imagine the grieving that took place at the event when all those horses fell over. That kind of haunting image seems too much for anyone to handle.
Comment by Rochelle Lesser — April 23, 2009 @ 11:38 am
From 3,000 miles away the image I can put in my own head of almost two dozen horses collapsing into death throes on a beautiful spring day makes me sick to my stomach. I cannot imagine what it was like for the people who loved and cared for those animals.
I feel sorry for everyone involved, including those who made the mistake. Imagine how they much be feeling.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 23, 2009 @ 11:41 am
Apparently the compound (Biodyl) is banned in the US and so must be custom-mixed:
http://www.miamiherald.com/new.....14228.html
Comment by The OTHER Pat — April 23, 2009 @ 11:52 am
From Merial’s Phillipines website ( http://ph.merial.com/swine/products.asp ):
Biodyl (VR-1683)
Injection solution containing metabolic constituents (adenosine triphosphoric acid or ATP, magnesium and potassium aspartate, sodium selenite and vitamin B 12) for debility, convalescence and myopathies.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — April 23, 2009 @ 11:58 am
More on the use of Biodyl:
http://equineink.wordpress.com.....th-biodyl/
Comment by The OTHER Pat — April 23, 2009 @ 12:03 pm
What a mess of truly awful proportions. I wonder why the pharmacy didn’t kick back the Rx for being illegal in the U.S.? I wonder if the drug’s U.S. status may have contributed to the screw-up in preparation?
I don’t wonder that there are lawsuits coming …
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 23, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
Our society has grown so dependent upon drugs to “fix” things in both humans and animals.
What we forget is that there is always that margin of human error that enters into the equation.
This is a margin that can easily cause death in some cases.
What a sad thing this is.
Comment by Marcy — April 23, 2009 @ 12:45 pm
I’m very curious as to what kind of strength error causes 21 horses to die, and so quickly.
I can’t even imagine the horror at the field when this happened. Just the thought of it rips at my emotions.
Comment by straybaby — April 23, 2009 @ 12:50 pm
Such a sad story. I have one question. Why were the horses taking medication in the first place? I haven’t been following the story too closely so I apologize if this has already been discussed.
Comment by Jason Merrihew — April 23, 2009 @ 1:40 pm
Sorry. I answered my own question by reading through the comments and clicking on the OTHER Pat’s link. If I recall correctly, B 12 was the supplement Miguel Tejada, baseball player, claimed to be injecting when asked what he was giving Rafeal Palmero (another baseball player) during the baseball steriod fiasco.
Comment by Jason Merrihew — April 23, 2009 @ 1:51 pm
This countries in serious trouble with the low standards we’ve become used to. Real serious trouble.
Comment by Kate — April 23, 2009 @ 4:27 pm
And this pumping ourselves constantly with drugs especially in the Sporting Fields for performance enhancement is truly sickening.
Comment by Kate — April 23, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
This is just bad all the way around. Those 21 horses did not need to be ‘medicated’ for anything. Has Polo become such a cut throat sport that the horses have to be medicated up to give their team an edge? It is time for the fans of all sports to stand up and say - enough is enough. These are games - there are winners and losers and if you lose - live with it. There is no need to take or give anything - this is not the Colosseum - losers aren’t fed to lions or crucified.
Comment by cheryl — April 23, 2009 @ 5:36 pm
A very sad situation…innocent horses lost trying to make them chemically enhanced/supported…by humans. When we will all learn? Football…baseball…bicycling…weightlifting…running…so forth…for what…to die in your sleep prior to Stage 5 of the TdeF? Or, to die in a horse trailer prior to the big game? An accident like this is always a combination of several individual factoids…culminating in a disaster…which will eventually come out. JMJ
Comment by Robert Anthony — April 24, 2009 @ 11:44 am
Looking at the components of Biodyl, they appear to be extremely innocous — a bunch of vitamins and minerals. I don’t see anything that isn’t (individually) available over the counter. It doesn’t really sound particularly performance enhancing. Lots of people give their horses supplements. This particular supplement may just have been one that the (non-US) team members were used to giving in their home country, and when they got here they may have hunted around for a way to keep giving it even though it wasn’t available locally.
It is a tragedy that the prescription was messed up, but personally until I know more I’m not thinking that the team members are at fault for giving dangerous performance enhancing drugs to their horses. After all, we do know that Biodyl isn’t even considered a drug, just a supplement.
Jessica
Jessica
Comment by Jessica — April 24, 2009 @ 1:09 pm