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

For the first time, all the 27 countries of the European Union 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.

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).

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.

European sales and use of antimicrobials for veterinary medicine