European Medicines Agency publishes report on sales of veterinary antimicrobial agents in 2010

The European Medicines Agency today published a report on sales of veterinary antimicrobial agents in Europe in 2010 . The report, prepared by the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) project based at the Agency, presents standardised, aggregated sales data on veterinary antimicrobial agents.

The data are now based on packages sold which allows for a more refined analysis of the data including analysis by pharmaceutical form.

A total of 19 European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries submitted data on 2010 sales to the Agency, a significant increase from the nine countries who submitted data for the 2009 report published last year.

The report shows that tetracyclines (39%), penicillins (23%) and sulfonamides (11%) were the top three antimicrobial classes of veterinary medicinal products sold. Overall in the 19 countries, the sales of the antimicrobial classes defined as the most critically important in human medicine by the World Health Organization, namely third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and macrolides, accounted for 0.2%, 2.2% and 5.7%, respectively, of the total sales of veterinary antimicrobials.

The responsible use of antimicrobial agents is a key factor in minimising the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Collecting accurate data on the consumption of antimicrobial agents by food-producing animals is therefore an essential element in identifying and quantifying the risk of developing and spreading antibiotic resistance in the food-chain.

The report will be used by risk assessors and risk managers in Member States to inform antimicrobial policy and responsible use of antimicrobials.

ESVAC was launched by the Agency following a request from the European Commission to develop a harmonised approach for the collection and reporting of data on the use of antimicrobials in animals from the Member States.