The Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine is aware of a shortage of the injectable drug iron dextran for the prevention and treatment of iron deficiency in neonatal pigs.

The FDA considers iron dextran to be a medically necessary drug and recognizes that an inadequate supply could result in undue animal suffering and disruption in the swine industry. To alleviate the shortage, CVM is not objecting to Bimeda Inc. importing 100 mL vials of injectable 200 mg/mL iron dextran from Bimeda-MTC Animal Health Inc. of Canada and distributing the product in the United States through the end of May 2008 or until an adequate U.S. domestically manufactured supply is available. Bimeda Animal Health is an international company with headquarters in Ireland.

Additional information is available at www.fda.gov/cvm/ under CVM Updates.