Pharmacovigilance for veterinary drugs

Pharmacovigilance is a system concerned with the acquisition, evaluation and classification of informations about suspected adverse drug reactions (SADR). Such a system was developed in Switzerland under the supervision of Swissmedic after the introduction of the federal law on therapeutic products on January 1st 2002. By sending declarations about SADRs, veterinary practitioners play a central role in this scheme. The reports are processed according to international standards (ABON) and provide useful hints to enhance the safety of drug usage by both patients and owners. The system acquired 58 reports in its first complete year of operation (2003). Analysis of these reveals that trends observed in foreign countries are also applicable to Switzerland: most of the reports concerned the use of antiparasitic or antibiotic drugs in small animals. The first year also revealed a high percentage of declarations coming from the pharmaceutical companies and the authors would therefore like to encourage practitioners to take a more active part in this scheme.