The Center for Veterinary Medicine branch of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released the 2015 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals. The annually-released report summarizes information submitted by antimicrobial drug-producing companies in the United States under the Animal Drug User Fee Amendments of 2008 in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Companies producing a medication containing an active antimicrobial ingredient approved for use in food-producing animals must report the amount of the antimicrobial sold or distributed for that purpose. The FDA Summary Report reflects on changes in sales of antimicrobials over the past year, as well as over the years since data collection began.
Notable trends in the 2015 Summary Report include:
- A 1% increase in domestic sales of all antimicrobials approved for use in food-producing animals from 2014, with a 2% increase in sales of medically-important antimicrobials.
- A decrease from 72% to 71% from 2014 in the percentage of medically-important antimicrobials approved for production/therapeutic use. Most medications approved for production uses are also approved for therapeutic use, so it is not possible to report on production use alone.
- Ionophores continue to represent 30% of all antimicrobials sold or distributed domestically; ionophores and not-independently-reported medications representing non-medically important antimicrobials account for 38% of all domestic sales and distribution.
The report reminds readers that limitations to the data from reporting must be considered when interpreting the information presented. Specifically, the report states that many medications are approved for multiple species, including non-food producing species, and that the data represents the volume of product sold or distributed by the manufacturer, but not the volume ultimately purchased or used. Finally, the report reminds the public that there is a significantly higher mass of food-producing animals in the United States as compared to humans; thus, it is difficult to draw a comparison between the two populations regarding antimicrobial sales.
