Lexington, KY - With its world-class veterinary clinics, the University of Kentucky Gluck Equine Research Center, and the UK Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center (LDDC), Lexington is arguably the Horse Health Capital of the World.
Improvements in horse health are manifested through investments in long-term research. The Gluck Equine Research Center is unique in that it is dedicated to horse research, and the LDDC processes the largest equine case load in the world. Although horses represent an important element of Kentucky's economy, and despite the presence of these dedicated institutions, academic scientists still encounter major difficulties in funding horse research.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a primary source of funding for cattle, sheep and other livestock species, but because horses are neither eaten nor used for fiber production in the United States, they are not considered to be part of this group for research purposes. In recent years, the USDA funded research on Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome (MRLS) through the Agriculture Research Service and has continued to support a handful of projects that tie back to horses. Nancy Cox, associate dean for research and director of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, called this a step in the right direction, but she said UK and other land-grant research institutions are constantly challenged to fund research.
"Kentucky's equine industry is particularly challenged, since Kentucky is the only state where horses lead the state's economy so strongly," said Cox.
In fact, the amount of funds directed toward farm animal research via USDA's Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (a small portion of which trickles down to horses) has been cut by two thirds since 2008. Cox said this is partially because national priorities are more likely to be funded than state-specific needs.
UK's equine research receives some support from corporate sponsors such as Pfizer and Intervet, among others. Some funding comes from a small fraction of the pari-mutuel handle from racetracks in the state. Beyond these sources, however, Cox said scientists rely on private donations and grants from philanthropic foundations.
In other health industries, research is generated by corporations either privately or through funding to academic institutions. In human health, large pharmaceutical companies are structured into two major components: one focuses on the discovery of new drug candidates or equipment prototypes for a targeted health problem. When a good candidate is identified, the idea is then passed on to the development side of the company, which works toward achieving regulatory approval from the government to market a new drug or device.
James MacLeod, V.M.D., Ph.D., a scientist at the Gluck Center, said that the smaller animal health industry is arranged differently. MacLeod estimated that total animal health sales total ten percent of those in human health. Animal health companies generally cannot afford an in-house discovery division to identify new drugs for animal health problems. There are certainly exceptions, but MacLeod said companies must wait for someone else to provide a potential solution to an identified problem, essentially a "proof of concept."
"Without a place like Gluck, and other academic places doing the primary discovery research for equine health, there would be no novel new drug candidates for the development pipeline," MacLeod said. "For the health problems afflicting horses, academic research is an absolutely critical part of the process. The academic centers do most of the discovery science."
Without continued discovery, Kentucky's economy would be at a grim standstill. Many Kentucky jobs rely on the sale of effective horse feed, medication, supplements and supplies - businesses driven by the invention and testing of new products.
"Virtually all products we produce have a genesis in research-based discoveries and the application of basic scientific principles and concepts," said Karl Dawson, Ph.D., director of worldwide research at Alltech, a Nicholasville-based animal feed company.
Dawson said Alltech has four of its own bioscience centers across the world and also supports research activities at 25 universities internationally, in addition to private facilities and government laboratories.
"Research leads to new products. It's the lifeblood of any pharmaceutical company," echoed Ron McDaniel, national sales manager for equine products at Intervet.
Both McDaniel and Dawson agreed that it is impossible to estimate a dollar amount that their companies have generated exclusively from research-driven projects, but they said that neither corporation could function without them.
In addition to the direct effect on companies like Alltech, continued healthy growth of Kentucky's horse population has a ripple effect across the state's equine industry. The MRLS epidemic cost Kentucky about $340 million between 2001 and 2002 and continued to affect horse sales in subsequent years.
The Gluck Center estimates that land-grant university research returns at least $10 for every $1 invested, while disease research returns about $50 for every invested dollar.
Cox emphasized that the importance of equine research cannot be estimated because no recent, reliable data exists on the economic impact of horses on Kentucky. She noted that an agricultural economics expert at UK has an outline for studying this issue but as yet has been unable to conduct her research - due to a lack of funding.