Animal medicines part of a sustainable future

Last year's Chairman, John McNally, commented in NOAH's annual report that: "Times are changing". The Curry Report, European Regulatory Review 2001, the Marsh recommendations and the Competition Commission will all have an impact on the members of NOAH. NOAH therefore needs to keep abreast of these issues, move with the times, and use the opportunity to work alongside other organisations to ensure that change is for the better for everyone involved in animal medicines, be it for food chain production or companion animal medicines

Speaking at the Annual Dinner of the National Office of Animal Health, held in London on 18th April, NOAH Chief Executive Philip Sketchley said that Sir Don Curry's Policy Commission's recommendation that research should be directed to low or no-drug farming systems was worrying, as this could be taken to mean there was no place for animal medicines in sustainable farming.

"We certainly hope that wasn't what was meant. NOAH's 'strapline' for many years has been 'Animals need medicines too', because medicines are part of the solution to provide safe and healthy food, in sustainable systems," said Mr Sketchley. He added: "Naturally, we support initiatives to reduce the need to use medicines. Our work with RUMA, the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance, is an example of that. However, prevention - through good stockmanship and through vaccination and worming - is better than cure, but equally there are times when cures are vital for animal welfare. Increasingly we hear reports of animals that are farmed organically suffering because a particular medicine could not be used, or because the right therapeutic treatment was withheld until all else had failed," he added. "NOAH will be responding to the DEFRA 'Sustainable Food and Farming - Working Together' document. In the spirit of the title, we hope to be working together with many of the organisations represented here to highlight the benefits our members' products can bring to DEFRA's vision."

With the review of the European regulations governing animal medicines continuing, Mr Sketchley welcomed the willingness of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate to maintain dialogue with NOAH and other groups on the changes proposed, in particular DEFRA's support for flexibility that would enable the distribution of PML licensed animal medicines thorough registered distributors to continue.

"It is not only NOAH that has seen changes recently. For example, Mike Rutter has recently retired from the VMD," said Mr Sketchley. "We would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the industry, to thank Mike for all his work over the years and wish him all the best in his retirement. We also look forward to working with Steve Dean and the VMD team in the future. We might not agree on everything, but we believe that openness of discussion is the best way forward, and will be looking for dialogue to continue."

Discussing the Competition Commission, whose enquiry into veterinary prices is ongoing, Mr Sketchley said: "NOAH was invited to a meeting with the Competition Commission in February and will be attending the next meeting, along with others, next week. This is all part of the normal enquiry process and we are happy to help provide background, on behalf of our members, to the regulatory environment in which the animal medicines are licensed. The full report from the Competition Commission is not due until next year and we wait with interest to see how their recommendations relate to the earlier report from Sir John Marsh and his team."

The next 12 months will bring challenges and, we hope, opportunities. We remain convinced that if NOAH, our members, the regulators and users of medicines work closely together we will achieve improvements in medicines availability, continued effective distribution with sufficient profit incentive to encourage further research and new medicines to meet the future needs of the veterinary profession, merchants, farmers and the pet owning public.

Ends

18 April 2002

Notes for Editors

For further information contact Phil Sketchley or Alison Glennon at NOAH, tel. +44 (0)20 8367 3131, or visit the NOAH website.
The National Office of Animal Health was formed on 1 January 1986 to represent the UK companies which research, develop, manufacture and market licensed animal health products. The association has 37 corporate members and 12 associate members. In 2001 NOAH's members accounted for around 95% of the £359 million UK animal health market, with additional valuable exports.
DEFRA's publication 'Sustainable Food and Farming Working Together is available from Sustainable Agriculture Strategy Division, DEFRA, Room 308, Whitehall Place (East Block), London SW1A 2HH or on the web (along with the Policy Commission Report) on the DEFRA website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/sustain/default.htm