Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Antibiotic compliance hailed

The United States Food and Drug Administration says all major drug companies have now complied with its labeling requirements for antibiotics used by farmers.

That comes a day after the FDA said antibiotic sales for farm use actually went up, not down, in 2014, the year after it announced guidelines aimed at reducing use.

The FDA also announced that it processed 292 new animal drug applications affected by the guidelines; 84 were completely withdrawn, 93 oral-dosage products were converted to prescription-only status and 115 affected feeds were converted to veterinary-directive status.

Another 22 applications tying growth promotion to the drugs were altered to remove the production promise, the agency says.


The FDA is trying to curb antibiotic use on farms to reduce the incidence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are harmful to human health.