FDA issues update on antibiotic guidelines

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued on March 26 an Update on Animal Pharmaceutical Industry Response to Guidance #213, which asked animal health companies to voluntarily phase out “medically important antimicrobials in food animals for food production purposes.” Find a summary, which indicates compliance from 25 of the 26 sponsor companies, on the FDA’s website.

Reactions were predictably mixed, according to Influence Feed, with agriculturalists in support of the update and activists skeptical.

Avinash Kar, a Natural Resources Defense Council health attorney, said, “This plan is likely to lead to label changes, not a reduction in use.”

The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA) tweeted a Harvard University Bill of Health blog post, which explored the potential loopholes producers might use.

Maryn McKenna echoed the cautious optimism of The Pew Charitable Trust’s Laura Rogers, who affirmed, “The FDA and drug makers appear to have passed the first big test of the agency’s voluntary approach. This is very encouraging – as is the agency’s transparency in reporting this information today, but,” she warned, “there’s a lot more to do.”

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