NEW veterinary medicines regulations since January 28th change the landscape for how we treat equines in Ireland. Medicines designed to treat (as against prevent) infectious disease will be increasingly controlled. For horses and horse owners this means antibiotic and antiparasitic drugs in particular.

We’ve been operating under an EU Directive issued in 2001; extensive work led to its replacement by an EU Regulation (2019/6) on the eve of Brexit (no co-incidence perhaps!). An EU Regulation allows each EU Member State little discretion in how it is implemented and the new provisions became law across the EU on January 28th 2022 with DAFM issuing national legislation here (Statutory Instrument 2022/36). Many of our veterinary medicines are dual-labelled with the UK. Given their ‘Brexit Freedoms Bill’ just issued, we may see divergence in due course: a worry for us.

Among the stated objectives for the new EU Regulation are to:

  • Simplify and reduce the administrative burden, stimulate innovation and encourage new products to come to market , especially for MUMS (minor-use-minor species). Increasing availability - hurray, we might say!
  • Develop an EU-wide product database and reporting system for adverse events – making it easier to search what products exist and fostering confidence in the core principles for medicines on the market - quality, safety and efficacy.
  • Strengthen the EU’s campaign against antimicrobial resistance – based on the ‘One Health’ concept – human, animal and environmental health are all interrelated. In Ireland, guidelines for the use of antibiotics in equines are being finalised – watch this space!

    • The essence of the new system is to categorise veterinary medicines simply as POM (Prescription Only Medicine) or non-POM.

    For POMs:

  • You need a veterinary prescription (script).
  • Only registered vets can write such a script in Ireland.
  • All antibiotics will be POM and some will be reserved ‘For Human Use Only’.
  • Sedatives, analgesics, anaesthetics and much more will also be POM.
  • DAFM will decide which POMs agricultural/equine merchants can dispense (with a script, mind).
  • For the others you’ll need to visit a pharmacy (with a vet script) or veterinary practice (where you are an established client).

    • For Non-POMs:

  • These can be purchased ‘over-the-counter’ (OTC) from merchants and pharmacies.
  • You can also source them from veterinary practices, provided you are an established client.

    • Change is afoot regarding antiparasitic products: currently, horse-owners are familiar with purchasing these ‘OTC’. If the product is licensed for a food-producing species it becomes POM from June 1st. Equines are food-producing species in EU law and the ability we have to sign individual horses out of the food-chain doesn’t change the status of the species. The move to POM is based on growing evidence of drug resistance. We need to preserve the efficacy of these products for the future; thus we need to use them in an increasingly targeted manner now.

    In Northern Ireland antiparasitic products may continue to be prescribed by suitably trained/qualified persons (SQPs). This is not legally possible for our equivalent ‘Responsible Persons’ as they never prescribed, only ever dispensed, medicines in the past (pre-2019/6). Be prepared to have your vet involved in an equine parasite control programme!

    Vets have been familiar with using products labelled VPO (typically sedatives and anaesthetics). We couldn’t dispense these to clients, only administer them personally or directly supervise their use. I expect that these products will be labelled POM but that the licence will state, as before, that vets cannot dispense them.

    Please don’t ask your vet to do what is not permitted; please source and use all drugs responsibly to protect ‘One Health’ – it’s everyone’s health.