Call for overhaul of EU licensing system for veterinary medicines

THE European Union licensing system for veterinary medicines is time-consuming, inefficient and costly and needs to be completely overhauled, according to the representative body for the European animal health industry.

Declan O’Brien, director of the Brussels-based International Federation for Animal Health (IFAH), said the system where medicines are separately assessed and only authorised in each member state must come to an end.

Addressing a conference run by the Animal and Plant Health Association (APHA) in Dublin yesterday, he said that where an application for a license for a veterinary medicine is authorised in one member state, this authorisation should apply across all member states.