Ban on use of certain microbe medications on animals to begin in February 2023

Preserving the effectiveness of antimicrobial medicines is one of the key projects among the strategic goals of the European Union. For this reason, certain antimicrobials are reserved for use on humans alone. The criteria for selecting which antimicrobial medicines are exclusively for use on humans, and the microbial medicines list itself, are set in lower-level statutes of the EU Veterinary Medicinal Products Regulation. They are legislation that is directly in force in the member states.

The list of antimicrobials includes 18 antibiotics, 18 antiviral medicines, and one antiprotozoal drug, whose use on animals will be banned in the EU from 9 February 2023. According to information from Fimea and the Finnish Food Safety Authority, amantadine is the only medicinal substance on the list that was used on animals in Finland in the autumn of 2022. Amantadine also has other antimicrobial properties, and it has been used on individual animals in combination therapy for the treatment of severe chronic pain.

The primary purpose of listing antimicrobial medicines is to protect newer and broad-spectrum antimicrobial medicines and to maintain their effectiveness for the protection of human health. Finland has had national restrictions on the use of antimicrobial medicines on animals since the 1990s. Since then, Sweden has followed the same model, and from February 2023 the principle will be applied to the entire EU area. This policy line has also served as a vanguard in the fight against resistance to antimicrobial medicines for the rest of the world.

 Antimicrobial medicines and medicine groups reserved for use among humans (Comission Implementing Regulation 2022/1255)

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Implementation of the ban on use of amantadine in Finland (in Finnish)

Regulation (EU) 2019/6 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on veterinary medicinal products and repealing Directive 2001/82/EC

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1760 of 26 May 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/6 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing the criteria for the designation of antimicrobials to be reserved for the treatment of certain infections in humans

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1255 designating antimicrobials or groups of antimicrobials reserved for treatment of certain infections in humans, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/6 of the European Parliament and of the Council