Veterinary Medicines

Veterinary Medicines Information

Buying authorised veterinary medicines:

As a horse owner, you’ll want to be sure that the medicines you’re giving your horse are safe, effective and legal.  Buying your veterinary medicines from us you can be sure that:

– we are a UK-based retailer and authorised to sell veterinary medicines

– we only supply veterinary medicines that are authorised in the UK, meaning they’re proven to be safe and effective when used as directed.

Registered Qualified Person

Our registered qualified person with responsibility for the supply of veterinary medicines classified as POM-V/ POM-VPS/ NFA-VPS is Mr T.W Walters MBA BVSc MRCVS. 

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD):

The VMD is the UK government agency responsible for the controls on veterinary medicines in the UK, including their authorisation, manufacture and supply.

Authorisation and classification of veterinary medicines:

Any product in the UK that makes a veterinary medicinal claim must be authorised. You can tell if a veterinary medicine is authorised as it will include English language labelling that it’s important that you read and understand. The label will include a unique UK marketing authorisation number, which will appear in one of the following formats:

• Vm 04321/4001
• Vh 05467/4007
• EU/1/99/099/001-001

Alternatively, the product may include a statement “This veterinary medicine is marketed in accordance with Schedule 6 of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations – Exemptions for small pet animals”; or similar on the label and packaging.

There are four classifications of authorised veterinary medicines:

1. Prescription-only Medicine – Veterinarian (abbreviated to POM-V)
2. Prescription-only Medicine – Veterinarian, Pharmacist, Suitably Qualified Person (SQP) (abbreviated to POM-VPS)
3. Non-Food Animal – Veterinarian, Pharmacist, Suitably Qualified Person (SQP) (abbreviated to NFA-VPS)
4. Authorised Veterinary Medicine – General Sales List (abbreviated to AVM-GSL)

You can use the VMD’s Product Information Database to check if a product is authorised and its classification, or to search for a UK-authorised veterinary medicine.  The search facility allows you to search by trade name, active substance, species, legal classification and many other options.  Each product has a Summary of Product Characteristics (SPCs) that tells you all about the medicine.

For more information visit the VMD’s Product Information Database here:

http://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/ProductInformationDatabase/

Prescription misuse:

It is an offence to:

• Alter a prescription issued by a vet, pharmacist or SQP e.g.
• change the date the prescription was signed
• change the quantity of the product
• include additional medicines
• Fraudulently produce a prescription e.g.
• forge a prescription
• forge the signature of a vet, pharmacist or SQP
• send the same prescription to multiple retailers

Our RQP carefully checks all prescriptions and will report suspected prescription misuse to the VMD or the police.

What to do if your animal suffers an adverse reaction:

No medicine is risk free and all medicines have the potential to cause adverse effects. Some of the adverse effects are known about and these are explained in the product’s SPC. Others that may only rarely occur or are specific for certain breeds or groups of animals may only be seen when the products are used more widely.

If you suspect that you or your animal has had an adverse reaction to a veterinary medicine, or you think the medicine hasn’t worked as it should have done, report it to the VMD using the form available via the link below:

https://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/adversereactionreporting/

Complaints about veterinary medicines:

If you have a complaint about the quality of a veterinary medicine please contact us in the first instance at info@equinehealthdirect.co.uk. However, if you feel that we haven’t resolved your complaint satisfactorily, you can contact the VMD;  postmaster@vmd.defra.gsi.gov.uk

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate will only investigate complaints regarding Veterinary Medicinal Products (not our service or pricing etc).