First report on EU-wide sales and use of antimicrobials in animals

For the first time, all the 27 countries of the European Union (EU27) together with Iceland and Norway, have collected and reported data on both sales and use of antimicrobials in animals in their countries. The findings are presented in the first European Sales and Use of Antimicrobials for Veterinary Medicine (ESUAvet) annual surveillance report. The data cover the year 2023, marking the beginning of a regular exercise that will result in yearly reports.

Data on sales

Sales of antibiotics for food-producing animals accounted for 98% of total EU sales of veterinary medicines containing substances with antibiotic activity. The highest selling antimicrobial class for food-producing animals were penicillins, followed by tetracyclines and sulfonamides. According to the AMEG categorisation of antibiotics for use in animals for prudent and responsible use, developed by EMA’s ad hoc expert group, approximately 65% of total EU sales for food-producing animals corresponded to substances that belong to category D (which should be used as first line treatments, whenever possible), 29% corresponded to category C (which should be considered only when there are no antibiotics in Category D that could be clinically effective), and 6% corresponded to category B (which are critically important in human medicine but use in animals should be restricted to mitigate the risk to public health).

Data on use

Data on use were collected for four main food-producing animal species in 2023: cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys. Veterinarians played a key role in gathering data, as they were selected as the sole data providers by 16 reporting countries. The remaining 13 reporting countries used other data providers in addition to veterinarians, including pharmacies, feed mills, farmers or breeders, and retailers.

This is the first time that data on use has been collected across the EU. Many countries are still in the process of setting up or improving data collection systems for antimicrobial use. Therefore, the shared data for 2023 were not complete and accurate enough to start reporting quantitative information. Member States are committed to consolidating their use data collection systems, aiming to increase accuracy and coverage. This initiative has already shown a strong cooperation between reporting countries, as those with experience in data collection on antimicrobial use offered guidance and support, fostering a productive and collaborative environment.

Antimicrobial Sales and Use (ASU) Platform

The ESUAvet report builds on the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) project, a voluntary initiative between national authorities and EMA to collect reliable sales data across Europe over the course of 12 years. A 50% drop in sales of veterinary antibiotics was observed during this time, thanks to the collective efforts of countries who provided the data and developed national strategies to encourage responsible use as well as to practitioners and farmers in the field.

The ESVAC initiative was considered so successful that it has formalised and expanded under EU legislation to include mandatory data collection on the sales and use of antimicrobials in animals. Member States report their data to EMA via the ASU Platform, a centralised system designed to standardise and streamline the data received from countries.

The data in the annual ESUAvet reports, collected via the ASU Platform, will help to identify trends in antimicrobial consumption in animals more accurately and with more granularity, enabling decision-makers to address the increasing complexity of antimicrobial resistance and to take appropriate measures to protect both animal and human health in Europe.