Veterinary pharmacy

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Veterinary pharmacy




Study Points



image Differences in diagnosis, treatment, prescribing and supply of medicines between animals and humans


image Legislation and legal definitions that apply when dealing with medicines for animals


image Prescribing and the supply cascade


image Advice-giving for animal medicines


image Retail sale of veterinary medicines




Animals, disease and medicines


It is unsafe to assume that the way a drug works in one animal species will be the same as the way it works in a human. This is also the case between different species of animals, and so in order to have a complete set of drugs available for every species of animal, very large sums of money would need to be invested in research and development. This does not happen and so anyone involved in treating animals may have to potentially prescribe medicines that have not been tested on that particular animal species. The other big difference between treating humans and animals is that humans are often in a position to describe symptoms, progression of symptoms and any contributing factors. When treating animals, a veterinary surgeon has to rely on physical examination and the owner’s observation of the animal, thus making diagnosis more difficult.


It is also important to recognize that some animals are food-producing, either because some produce food, e.g. eggs, milk, or are eaten as meat. If they have been taking medicines in the period of time before they or their products enter the human food chain, then it is likely that humans could be consuming quantities of the medicine. These medicines may not have been tested in humans and so may cause adverse drugs reactions or interactions with other prescribed medications within the human. Pharmacists involved in supplying veterinary medicines need to be aware of these issues, as they influence the medicines supplied, records made and advice given.



Definitions


There are three additional definitions used when working with medicines and animals:



1. Classification of a veterinary medicine



2. Classification of an ‘animal’



3. Suitably qualified person (SQP)





Legal classifications


Each year, the VMD issues a new set of Veterinary Medicines Regulations (VMR), which are legally binding in the UK. These regulations displaced the Medicines Act in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Other countries have similar regulations and there are also some European regulations.


There are four main legal classes of medicine and within these categories, there are also further classifications for controlled drugs (CDs).







Prescribing and supply cascade


In-line with human medicines legislation, veterinary medicines regulations start from the principle that veterinary medicines must be authorized to protect the animal, user and the environment from untested or poor quality products. However, it is recognized that in some circumstances the benefits of supplying an unauthorized medicine will outweigh the risks and so veterinary surgeons have been given an exemption from the general rule under certain circumstances and this is known as the cascade.


The cascade tries to provide the balance between the need to use authorized products when available and the need for prescriber freedom when they are not. It is a way of increasing the range of products available to compensate for the lack of licensed products available for every condition in every animal species.


Any decision to supply a product under the cascade must take into account the following:


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Jun 24, 2016 | Posted by in PHARMACY | Comments Off on Veterinary pharmacy

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