Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Florida's Division of Sponsored Research received a $498,663 Project Grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310), awarded on May 15, 2026, with completion targeted for May 14, 2028. The project addresses the re-emergence of New World Screwworm (NWS), a significant pest threatening food animal production and national food safety. This grant supports the development of physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models to predict withdrawal intervals for two FDA-recommended antiparasitic drugs—ivermectin and doramectin—currently used under emergency authorizations to treat NWS infections in food-producing animals.

The project delivers three primary products: PBPK models for ivermectin and doramectin in cattle; generic PBPK models for both drugs across multiple species (cattle, swine, sheep, and goats); and a generic PBPK model for ivermectin in poultry (broiler and laying hens). These computational models leverage existing pharmacokinetic and tissue depletion datasets from the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD) to generate evidence-based withdrawal interval predictions. The project's outputs directly support food safety protection by enabling veterinarians and producers to make informed, science-based decisions regarding extralabel drug use during NWS outbreaks, thereby mitigating impacts on agricultural systems and human food safety.