Last company agrees to antimicrobial availability plan

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Among 26 companies affected by regulators’ plan to increase restrictions on agriculture use of certain antimicrobials, all have now agreed to comply.

The Food and Drug Administration announced June 30 that the last of those companies, the Norway-based Pharmaq AS, had agreed to the changes, which affect antimicrobials important for use in human medicine.

The FDA had announced in December 2013 that the companies had until the end of 2016 to consent to remove over-the-counter availability of 283 drugs and end uses for production benefits unrelated to treatment, prevention, or control of specific diseases.

In March, the agency had indicated that only Pharmaq AS had not expressed intent to comply. Company CEO Morten Kr. Nordstad had indicated to JAVMA News that his company had not thought the proposed changes were relevant to Pharmaq products but would re-evaluate the FDA’s request.

Once over-the-counter availability is removed, the drugs will be distributed only through prescriptions or veterinary feed directives.