Introduction to Veterinary medicines Flashcards
What is the purpose of Veterinary Medicines Regulations (VMRs) 2013?
- Set out the legal controls of veterinary medicines.
- The VMRs are updated about once a year (or thereabouts).
- Enforced by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD).
- Veterinary medicines supplied in UK must have a GB or UK marketing authorisation.
What is a Veterinary Medicinal Product (VMP)?
Any substance or combination of substances presented as having properties for treating or preventing disease in animals;
or
Any substance or combination of substances that may be used in, or administered to, animals with a view either to restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions by exerting a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action, or to making a medical
diagnosis.
What is the role of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate?
Are an executive agency of DEFRA (Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).
Main statutory functions include:
- Assessing veterinary medicines for safety, quality and efficacy.
- Granting marketing authorisations for veterinary medicines.
- Regulating the manufacture and distribution of veterinary medicinal products and animal feeding stuffs containing veterinary medicines and specified feed additives.
- Surveillance of adverse events.
What is considered by the VMD in terms of the safety of veterinary medicines?
- The animal being treated.
- The person administering the medicine.
- The consumer of milk, meat, eggs or honey (if administered to a food producing animal).
- The potential impact on the environment.
Can the same veterinary medicines be used in
different animals?
- No
- Different products are authorised in different species.
- This is not only to do with the size of the animal but also to do with drug handling and metabolism.
- Paracetamol for example, is extremely toxic to cats, since they lack the necessary glucuronyl transferase enzymes to safely metabolise it.
What are the classes of authorised VMPs?
- POM-V
- POM-VPS
- NFA-VPS
- AVM-GSL
What is a POM-V?
- Prescription-only Medicine – Veterinarian.
- Subject to highest level of control.
- Includes VMPs containing controlled drugs and those intended for administration only following a diagnosis and clinical assessment by a veterinary surgeon.
- Available only on the written prescription of a vet.
What is a POM-VPS?
- Prescription-only Medicine – Veterinarian, Pharmacist, Suitably Qualified Person (SQP).
- Medicines in the POM-VPS category must also be prescribed, but this can be by a pharmacist, Suitably Qualified Person (SQP) or a veterinary surgeon.
- Prescriptions may be oral or written.
- A written prescription is only required if the supplier is not the prescriber.
What is a NFA-VPS?
- Non-Food Producing Animal – Veterinarian, Pharmacist, SQP.
- Do not require a written prescription.
- Product must be provided with appropriate advice at point of sale in order to ensure that the products will be properly administered.
- Medicines intended for use in food-producing animals would normally be classified as POM-VPS.
- The NFA-VPS category contains many of the dog and cat worm and flea control products.
What is a AVM-GSL?
Authorised Veterinary Medicine, General Sales List.
Medicines in this category may be supplied by any retailer without any restrictions, or provision of advice.
Exemptions for small pet animals:
- These products are exempt, under Schedule 6 of the VMRs.
- Intended solely for use in small, non-food producing animals.
- Not authorised, so they have not been assessed for quality, safety or efficacy, but may be legally marketed and administered according to the instructions on their labelling.
Unauthorised products:
- An unlicensed medicine that does not have a marketing authorisation and is not eligible for exemption through the Small Pet Animals scheme.
- Can only be prescribed by a veterinary surgeon under the cascade.
- This includes any human medicine used for animals.
What can pharmacists not do?
- Only veterinary surgeons can diagnose clinical conditions in animals.
- Pharmacists cannot sell human medicines for use in animals, unless they are prescribed under the cascade.
- Prescriptions for animals are not allowed on the NHS.
What can pharmacists do?
- Dispense POM-V and POM-VPS medicines in accordance with prescriptions written by a UK registered veterinary surgeon.
- Dispense veterinary medicines prepared extemporaneously, but only in accordance with a prescription from a veterinary surgeon.
- Dispense human medicines for use under the cascade in accordance with prescriptions written by a veterinary surgeon.
- Prescribe and supply POM-VPS veterinary medicines.
- Supply NFA-VPS, AVM-GSL veterinary medicines and Small Pet Animal Exempt products.
What are the prescription requirements for POM-V, POM-VPS and medicines supplied under the veterinary cascade?
- Name, address, telephone number, qualification and signature of the prescriber.
- Name and address of the owner.
- Identification and species of the animal and its address.
- Date; prescriptions are valid for six months or shorter if indicated by the prescriber.
- Prescriptions for schedule 2, 3 and 4 controlled drugs are valid for 28 days.
- Name, quantity, dose and administration instructions of the required medicine.
- As with prescriptions for human medicines, ‘as directed’ is not an acceptable administration instruction.
- There is no standardised prescription form, but the British Veterinary Association provide a useful template (see example).
- Any necessary warnings and if relevant the withdrawal period (for food producing animals).
- Where appropriate, a statement highlighting that the medicine is prescribed under the veterinary cascade.
- If the prescription is repeatable, the number of times it can be repeated.
- Where Schedule 2 or 3 CDs have been prescribed, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) registration number of the prescriber must also be included.
- For S2 / S3 CDs, also: a declaration that “the item has been prescribed for an animal or herd under the care of the veterinarian”.
- Usual CD prescription requirements also apply and the RCVS (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons) registration number of the prescriber must also be included.
What is the veterinary cascade?
- VMR state that only authorised veterinary medicines may be prescribed or administered to animals.
- However, If there is not an authorised veterinary medicines available in GB or the UK, then Schedule 4 to the VMR allows a veterinary surgeon to prescribe an alternative to treat an animal.
- This process is known as the cascade.
- It is unlawful to supply a human medicine or veterinary medicine without a GB/UK licence unless the prescription clearly includes a statement that the medicine is prescribed under the veterinary cascade (e.g. “prescribed under the cascade” or other wording to the same effect).
Define the withdrawal period:
A veterinary surgeon prescribing for, or administering a medicine to, food-producing animals under the cascade is required to specify an appropriate withdrawal period for the animal produce.
When setting the withdrawal period, a veterinary surgeon must take into account known information about the use of the product on the authorised species when prescribing to another species under the cascade.