Veterinary Strategy Focus Group (VSFG)

The VSFG serves as a platform for discussing and aligning on strategic topics related to veterinary medicines. 

The VSFG provides strategic advice on the unique aspects of the veterinary network, ensuring sustainability and future development in line with current and future EMAN strategies. The VSFG ensures that veterinary-specific issues receive the necessary attention and the group acts as a dedicated veterinary forum, reporting to the HMA.

The VSFG serves as a discussion platform to offer recommendations on common principles for implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/6 and enhancing harmonization within the network's areas of competence.

The specific VSFG activities are to:

•  Monitor the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2019/6.
• Provide strategic advice to the HMA on developing IT systems and high-level operating processes to enhance collaboration, efficiency, and effectiveness among regulators. This includes advising on specific business needs for veterinary IT systems, considering limited resources.
• Reduce administrative burdens and maximize resource sharing across the network through workshare initiatives, ensuring sustainability. This includes coordinated surveillance processes across the EU and shared experiences among Member States.
• In pharmacovigilance, to promote the benefits of pharmacovigilance to veterinarians and other key professional groups to increase reporting rates, especially for veterinary medicines for food-producing animals.
• Provide strategic oversight of measures to improve collaboration in case of supply disruptions, shortages, or quality defects in veterinary medicines affecting multiple Member States.
• Align activities with the key objectives of the EMANS and the HMA multi-annual work plan.
• Support the evaluation, communication, and response to major new events among Member States for continuous development of the Incident Management Plan and coordination with involved bodies (CVMP, CMDv, EMA WGs). This ensures emerging risks to the regulatory system for veterinary medicines are addressed cooperatively.
• Suggest initiatives and develop content for the Network Training Centre to reflect significant changes in veterinary medicine resulting from the implementation and further development of European databases.

The VSFG Co-Chairs are: David Murphy (Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), Ireland) and Ivo Claassen (EMA). The VSFG consists of HMAs members from veterinary or joint agencies, their representatives and EMA representatives. EC representatives are invited to attend meetings. Additional veterinary experts can be invited for specific topics, subject to HMA agreement.

Members of the VSFG should be responsible for the strategic management and/or regulation of veterinary medicinal products within their authority to contribute effectively to Focus Group discussions.

The chairs of CMDv and PhVWP-v are invited to provide regular updates on their group's work within the committee's mission framework. Members of the HMA Management Group and HMA Permanent Secretariat may attend meetings at their discretion.