By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent WASHINGTON, D.C. — Antimicrobial drug sales for food livestock declined from 2015 to 2016, according to the recently released U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) annual report summarizing sales and distribution data for all antimicrobial drugs approved for use in food-producing animals. Between 2009-15, overall sales volumes increased annually. Sales of all antimicrobials decreased by 10 percent, while sales of medically important antimicrobials decreased by 14 percent. Medically important antimicrobials are those that are considered important for treating disease in humans, said Anne Norris, FDA spokesperson. Certain other antimicrobials are used in animals but not humans, and are not considered medically important. The FDA requires antimicrobial drug manufacturers to report the sales of these drugs annually. These data provide insight regarding antimicrobials being sold, but do not show actual use data. Veterinarians and animal producers may buy these drugs but never administer them, or they may administer them in later years, the report said. “The FDA does not collect use data, but we believe that on-farm use data is needed to provide a more comprehensive and science-based understanding of antimicrobial drug use and resistance in animal agriculture,” Norris said. The FDA continues to work with federal, academic and industry partners to obtain more information about how, when and why animal producers and veterinarians use medically important antimicrobial drugs, Norris said. Other factors that should be considered when assessing progress made in efforts to promote judicious use of antimicrobials include animal demographics and animal health data, and data on resistance, Norris said. These could be important because of shifts in U.S. animal populations, and disease outbreaks. Data on resistance are tracked by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). Also, this 2016 report does not show changes in sales or distribution made under the implementation of the Guidance For Industry #213 in January 2017. At that time drug manufacturers voluntarily transitioned their medically important antimicrobials used in the feed or water of food-producing animals from over-the-counter to either prescription or Veterinary Feed Directive marketing status, and withdrew approval of uses for growth promotion and feed efficiency for those products. “Right now, we’re looking at a single-year decrease, and there are a myriad of factors to consider, so it is difficult to draw any conclusions at this point,” Norris said. “Note that while the results of final implementation of (Guidance For Industry #213) were not captured in the 2016 annual report, implementation took place over the course of three years. “The 2016 annual report may have picked up on changes the industry was making in preparation for the final implementation date of (Guidance For Industry #213) implementation on January 1, 2017.” Other trends observed from 2015-16 which were noted in the report include: •In 2016, it is estimated that 43 percent of the domestic sales and distribution of medically important antimicrobials was intended for use in cattle, 37 percent intended for use in swine, 9 percent intended for use in turkeys, 6 percent intended for use in chickens and 4 percent intended for use in other species or unknown. •In 2016, domestic sales and distribution of medically important antimicrobials accounted for 60 percent of the domestic sales of all antimicrobials approved for use in food-producing animals. Tetracyclines accounted for 70 percent of these sales, penicillins for 10 percent, macrolides for 7 percent, sulfas for 4 percent, aminoglycosides for 4 percent, lincosamides for 2 percent and cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones each for less than 1 percent. To read the full report, go to www.FDA.gov and type “annual report on antimicrobials” into the search bar. |
