Antimicrobial Resistance: MEPs Agree to Better Regulate and Restrict the Use of Veterinary Antibiotics

As part of the proposed regulation on veterinary drugs, MEP Françoise Grossetête (EPP Group) welcomed yesterday’s vote on her text by the European Parliament’s Environment Committee. “By banning, in particular, the online sale of antibiotics for veterinary use, we have just taken a decisive step in the fight against antimicrobial resistance,” she said following the adoption of her report by a vote of 60 in favor and 2 against. Members of the European Parliament also called for limits on the routine and preventive use of antibiotic therapy in animals. The Parliament, which took up the issue in January 2015, has already considered this matter on several occasions, with more than a thousand amendments tabled.   For Françoise Grossetête, “Yesterday’s vote is a major step forward for animal health and the fight against antibiotic resistance. With these new provisions, we will be able to better regulate and monitor the use of antibiotics in livestock farming and thereby reduce the risk of potential resistance emerging. The text will also improve the availability of veterinary medicinal products and strongly stimulate innovation to expand veterinarians’ therapeutic arsenal. I am delighted by the broad consensus around this report, which will greatly benefit public health and consumer protection.” For the MEP, the fight against antimicrobial resistance begins on livestock farms; she is working to establish new regulations to better regulate and restrict the use of antibiotics in veterinary medicine, particularly for prophylactic and metaphylactic purposes. Her report also encourages adherence to good animal husbandry practices and recommends reserving the use of certain critically important compounds for human medicine. Each year in the EU, infections caused by resistant bacteria result in approximately 25,000 deaths. “The text represents a true revolution for the veterinary medicinal product market. It is intended to regulate the marketing, sale, and use of these products in an entirely new way, with the aim, in particular, of improving treatment options for farm animals and pets, and of stimulating innovation, which has been too slow in veterinary medicine,” emphasized Françoise Grossetête. Initiated by the European Commission in September 2015, the proposed regulation on veterinary drugs aims to completely overhaul existing legislation. In addition to combating antimicrobial resistance, its main objectives are to improve access to and availability of veterinary drugs, reduce administrative burdens, stimulate innovation and competitiveness in the sector, and ensure the smooth functioning of the internal market. To promote research into new molecules, MEPs are also advocating for incentive measures, including longer periods of protection for technical documents, market protection for innovative active substances, and protection for investments in data generated to improve an existing antibiotic or keep it on the market. The adoption of this text coincides with the release of the latest annual report* on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic bacteria in Europe, published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Analysis of the data provided by Member States for 2014 once again highlights the increase in antimicrobial resistance across Europe. The results show that multidrug-resistant Salmonella bacteria continue to spread across Europe, detected in humans (26%) as well as in chicken meat (24.8%) and turkey meat (30.5%). Campylobacter, for its part, exhibits a high level of antimicrobial resistance to widely used antimicrobials, such as ciprofloxacin, in humans (60.2%) and in broiler chickens (69.8%), as well as resistance to nalidixic acid and tetracyclines in the latter. While in 2014, surveillance of resistant bacteria in animals and food focused on broiler chickens, laying hens, and turkeys raised for meat, next year’s report will also cover pigs and cattle. In this context, the text drafted by Françoise Grossetête and adopted by MEPs aims to strengthen the European Commission’s provisions on combating antimicrobial resistance and fostering innovation. In another vote, MEPs also adopted, by a vote of 53 in favor and 3 against, a report by Claudiu Ciprian Tanasescu (S&D Group) that amends another piece of legislation to separate the centralized marketing authorization for veterinary medicinal products from that for human medicines. Both texts will be debated and voted on during the plenary sessions in March or April in Strasbourg.   * The European Union summary report on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic and indicator bacteria from humans, animals, and food in 2014, February 11, 2016, http://www.efsa.europa.eu/fr/efsajournal/pub/4380