Veterinary medicinal products supply report published

Swissmedic and the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) have analysed the supply situation for veterinary medicinal products in Switzerland. Their report identifies the causes and outlines potential solutions with the aim of improving security of supply for veterinary medicinal products in the long term.

Ensuring supplies of human and veterinary medicinal products is becoming increasingly challenging in Switzerland. The situation is compounded by the fragmented nature of the veterinary medicinal products market and its smaller size compared with the market for human medicinal products. Swissmedic and the FSVO undertook a joint project, analysing the reasons for the supply shortfalls and outlining potential solutions. They also assessed which proposals from the "Drug supply bottlenecks 2022" report prepared by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) on shortages of human medicinal products could be applied to veterinary medicines. The preliminary project concludes with recommendations for a follow-on project to continue work on the proposed solutions and implement relevant measures.

Potential solutions for improving the veterinary medicinal product supply situation

Swissmedic and the FSVO propose potential solutions that could improve supplies of veterinary medicinal products in Switzerland. These include, for example, modifying the way supply disruptions are reported, reviewing existing authorisation procedures, modifying packaging element requirements or procuring essential veterinary medicinal products for an epidemic. Furthermore, in the context of the implementation proposals for the measures of the FOPH report on shortages in the supply of medicines, more fundamental modifications are being examined for veterinary medicinal products, such as production by the Confederation in shortage situations and new legislation to permit the time-limited importation of unauthorised medicinal products.

Direction adoption of EU authorisations will not be pursued any further on safety of medicines and consumer protection grounds as Switzerland is not involved in EU authorisation processes and corresponding bilateral treaties are not in place. However, Swissmedic’s existing procedures already take account of European authorisation decisions.