In its latest Vets@Work newsletter it points out Australia’s vets have three times the number of products available here, and quotes Agcarm chief executive, Graeme Peters, who says a lack of adequate protection of intellectual property is a key reason for the difference.
The New Zealand Index of Veterinary Specialities (NZIVS) shows 1175 individual veterinary product registrations in New Zealand. In comparison, there are a total of 3376 veterinary products on Australia’s Public Chemical Registration System.
Australia’s larger market accounts for some of the difference, but New Zealand’s poor protection of regulatory data is a major contributing factor, says Peters.
Australia offers eight years’ data protection for new medicines, with extension to 11 years if registrants add new uses, such as for minor species, to the label. New Zealand has five years’ data protection with no protection for new uses.
The NZVA says greater protection will give vets a wider range of treatments, especially new products and products that are tested and approved for use on minor species such as deer and goats.
NZVA deer branch chair, Adrian Campbell, says he’d welcome this. Despite 40 years of farming the species, there are still relatively few medications registered specifically for them, he notes.
“Deer farming is a small but long-standing industry so it would be good if suppliers showed more support by registering deer medications,” he says.
Ethical Agents’ technical director, Dennis Scott, says New Zealand registration fees are also to blame for the lesser number of animal medications available here.
“A levy based on turnover, similar to Australia’s, rather than a flat annual fee would help ensure smaller niche markets such as deer farming had species specific medications available.”
