The government has introduced new legislation in Parliament to modernise the Veterinary Medicines Regulations, with the aim of maintaining the UK as an attractive place to develop and market veterinary medicines.
Defra announced the regulation last month to a general welcome from the veterinary and pharmaceutical sectors, which said it had listened to their concerns over the original proposals.
The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 set out the controls on the marketing, manufacture, distribution, possession, and administration of veterinary medicines and medicated feed.
The legislation will implement the plans set out in the recently published government response to last year’s public consultation, which received widespread support from the veterinary medicines sector.
The new regulations seek to reduce the regulatory burden, facilitating the submission of one marketing authorisation application dossier and enabling common packaging to be used across the UK. Other changes include new measures to help tackle antimicrobial resistance by increasing restrictions on the use of antibiotics and antibiotics administered via feed.
Abi Seager, Veterinary Medicine Directorate Chief Executive Officer, said: “I am delighted that this much-anticipated legislation has been brought to Parliament.
“I would like to thank (Defra Minister) Lord Douglas-Miller for his input, and our stakeholders for helping to shape our thinking, both in responses to our consultation and through other contributions. We eagerly await parliamentarians discussing our proposals, and we hope they support these much-needed changes.”
Defra said the new regulations build upon wider work on antimicrobial resistance outlined in the UK’s 20-year vision to contain and control antimicrobial resistance by 2040, delivered through the UK’s 5-year National Action Plan for AMR.
The latest UK-Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance and Sales Surveillance (VARSS) Report showed that sales of antibiotics for use in food-producing animals fell by nearly 10% in the last year and have fallen by 59% since 2014.
The National Office of Animal Health (NOAH) welcomed the news and said it looked forward to this vital piece of legislation being adopted.
“The UK animal health industry needs a robust, up-to-date regulatory system to ensure the authorisation and availability of the veterinary medicines necessary to protect and improve animal health and welfare in the UK,” it said.
“This not only benefits animals, but also helps to protect human and environmental health while positively contributing to societal sustainability goals.
“The next important step in the process is scrutiny in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons and we remain available to put forward the views of the animal health industry on this important piece of legislation.
“Following scrutiny we hope to see this legislation adopted as soon as possible with the associated benefits this will bring to the regulatory environment for veterinary medicines.”