The availability of veterinary medicines in the European Union

April 2007

The availability of an adequate range of veterinary medicines to treat the wide variety of animal species in the European Community has been a growing challenge over the last two decades. During this period, considerable efforts have been made by various stakeholders, including regulators, industry, veterinarians and other users of medicines, to address the problems of medicines availability. Despite these efforts, the situation has continued to deteriorate.

Recognising the gravity of the issue, the Heads of Veterinary Medicines Agencies (HMA-V) established a Task Force (TF) on availability of veterinary medicines in July 2005. The TF was requested to produce a report on the adequacy of current legislative and regulatory measures relating to the availability of veterinary medicines, including:
• medicines for food-producing and companion animals,
• pharmaceuticals and vaccines and,
• the success of initiatives in Member States.

The Task Force provided a Report to the HMA-V in February 2007. The Report contains clear recommendations (short-term, medium-term and long-term) for consideration by Member States, HMAs, the European Medicines Agency, as well as for the Commission to help bring solutions to the problems. The Report states that notwithstanding the economic obstacles and specific problems in smaller markets, there are legislative and regulatory tools available which have the potential to ameliorate the situation. The Report also notes that the free movement of animals and their food products between Member States serves to underscore the need for harmonised interpretation of the available tools at least between neighbouring countries.

In adopting the Report, HMA-V noted that the recommendations contained therein must be taken in the context of an understanding of the need for consumer protection and that implementation measures will respect existing laws and the limits of budgetary provisions. 

HMA-V will continue to monitor the situation over the coming years.