Canada takes action on antimicrobial resistance

Health Canada announced new rules for veterinary drugs to better protect Canadians against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). These changes to the Food and Drug Regulations have been published in the Canada Gazette, Part II. Changes to the Food and Drug Regulations include:

• Restricting the personal importation of certain veterinary drugs for food-producing animals.
• Requiring companies to follow stricter guidelines to ensure the quality of their active pharmaceutical ingredients.
• Requiring manufacturers, importers, and compounders of veterinary drugs to report annual sales of medically important antimicrobial drugs to Health Canada to enable better surveillance.
• Introducing a more flexible and risk-appropriate framework to make importation simpler for low-risk veterinary health products, including products that may be used as alternatives to antimicrobial drugs.

These changes complement other ongoing initiatives, such as collaborating with provincial and territorial health authorities, the pharmaceutical industry, veterinarians, food animal producers, and other stakeholders to promote the prudent use of antimicrobial drugs in animals.

“Antimicrobial resistance is a serious issue both domestically and internationally,” said Canada’s Minister of Health Jane Philpott. “An increasing number of drugs are no longer effectively treating infections because of antimicrobial resistance, which means that human health is at risk. Changes to the Food and Drug Regulations introduced today will help protect Canadians from this growing global public health concern.”

Canada Gazette, Part II