Own-use imports of veterinary drugs will come under increased scrutiny as Health Canada implements plans to address the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
In proposed amendments re-leased last week, Health Canada said it plans to indicate specific circumstances under which livestock producers can import veterinary drugs for use on their own animals.
A list of permitted drugs would include those imported directly from another country in final dosage form that have identical active ingredients to the same drugs available in Canada.
Drugs that are only available in Canada through prescription or that are medically important would not be eligible for the own use import program, Health Canada said.
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Medications in pre-mixed livestock feed would not be eligible either.
OUIs are most commonly used by livestock producers to take advantage of cheaper U.S. drugs and treatments. However, there is little monitoring of the amount brought into Canada.
Health Canada’s plans to address that gap meet the approval of the Canadian Animal Health Institute.
Jean Szkotnicki of CAHI said the OUI issue is critical to antimicrobial monitoring. “We really welcome the fact that they are going to put controls over own use importation and active pharmaceutical ingredient importation and use. We think that’s critical,” she said.
“If we don’t know what’s coming in and what’s being used, then how do we ever develop policy to appropriately manage antimicrobial resistance and use?”
Rob McNabb, general manager of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said Health Canada plans would close a loophole.
“Most of the products initially that were brought in (under OUI) were not veterinary antibiotics. They were Ivomec and some other things,” said McNabb.
That said, specific rules would identify the drugs eligible for OUI so producers could still take advantage of cheaper prices for some treatments.
“Having clearer guidelines, as set out in regulations, I think will be fine. They have compromised with us. There were proponents that would have just closed the loophole and not allowed anything to be brought in.”
There have been suggestions, but no proof, that some Canadian livestock producers have imported cheaper U.S. drugs for resale, as opposed to their own use as the rules intend.
McNabb said Health Canada’s proposals are likely to include a requirement for documentation that would be designed to prevent any abuse of OUI rules.
The proliferation of antibiotic resistant bacteria has raised alarms about potential threats to human health because common treatments may not work to cure some illnesses.
Antimicrobial use in livestock has come under scrutiny as potentially increasing the development of resistant bacteria.
In a news release April 17, Health Canada said its proposed new measures are designed to “encourage prudent use of antimicrobial drugs used in food producing animals, particularly drugs that are considered medically important.”
Szkotnicki said involvement of veterinarians and the livestock industry is vital to ensure needed treatments remain available.
“There’s also a risk of not using these products. Do we have more outbreaks of disease, disease that could be zoonotic … the welfare of the animals, the cost of production,” she said. “
As far as the critically important (to human medicine) antimicrobials go, we actually don’t use a whole lot.”
Szkotnicki added that new regulations should also enable use of alternative treatments in livestock.
“The regulatory pathway really doesn’t allow for some of these alternatives to be used. It doesn’t have the flexibility that we need, particularly some of these grey area products that are in between that nutrition-drug paradigm. We need pathways to get those registered.”
