Vladimir Burmatov, the head of the State Duma Committee on Ecology and Environmental Protection, appealed to Dmitry Patrushev, the Minister of Agriculture of Russia, with a request to consider the possibility of allowing veterinary use of medicines intended for human use, TASS reports with reference to Burmatov.
“Taking into account the importance and urgency of solving this problem, which is significant for the society, I ask you to give instructions to consider simplification of the registration procedure for medicines already included in the state register of medicines for human use that have passed the necessary tests in order to include them in the state register of medicines for veterinary use,” the document says.
Burmatov noted that such an approach “will help to expand the list of medicines used in veterinary medicine, which will make it possible to treat animals more effectively.”
He also recalled that, according to the Law on the Circulation of Medicines, their use is allowed if they are registered and included in the corresponding register.
“At the moment, the state register of medicines for veterinary use contains only about 2,000 items, compared to more than 18,000 items in the state register of medicines for human use,” Burmatov said.
He also noted that veterinarians often record cases of diseases of domestic animals that are similar to human diseases.
“In this regard, veterinary clinics are in urgent need of other drugs for the treatment of domestic animals. Currently, medicines for human use are often used for these purposes, since they are multiple times more effective, and sometimes have no comparable counterparts in the veterinary register,” Burmatov said.
He gave an example of a situation when anesthetics for animals used during surgery “do not give the desired effect, and veterinary doctors often use medicines for human use in violation of the federal law, because otherwise the animal may die as it cannot endure the shock of pain.”
