The International Federation for Animal Health Europe (IFAH-Europe) agrees with the Commission that this is very positive news. We welcome that the European Institutions realise the important role animal health plays in Europe and the world, not only to benefit animal welfare but sustainable agriculture, human and public health as well.
Animal health plays a vital role in sustainable agriculture and to help farmers and vets across Europe to ensure our food-producing animals are kept free of disease. By doing so it allows for a sustainable, safe and secure food supply. Our conference on 11 June at the Hotel Bloom discussed this topic in detail (http://www.ifaheurope.org/ifah-media/events/236-ie-anconf15.html).
As disease knows no boundaries it is essential that all is put in place to protect Europe's animals and people. At the moment the medicated feed and veterinary medicines regulation is under review. The industry sincerely hopes that these discussions will also strive to modernise and simplify the current legislative framework for veterinary medicines to ensure animal health companies across Europe remain competitive and innovative so they can increase product availability across all markets in Europe for the benefit of veterinarians, farmers and animal owners.
Animal health companies in Europe are continuously finding new and innovative ways to prevent and control animal diseases and substantially invest in this area. Multinational companies spend around 12% and SMEs around 6% of their turnover annually on research and development into new products. Today part of this money goes to duplication of work resulting from a complex regulatory system across Europe, and around 35% of it goes to work on evolving data requirements applied retrospectively to existing products (defensive R&D).
We are a sector that employs some 55,000 people, and in 2014 generated sales in Europe of over €5 billion [CEESA 2014] – 31% of the world total. Our member companies invest over €400 million in R&D each year. At the end of the day innovation means being ready for new and emerging diseases to help Europe's agricultural economies, to safeguard animals' health and welfare and to contribute to a sustainable supply of safe food.