Disponibilité du médicament vétérinaire : réalité, enjeux et perspectives

In daily practice veterinarians are often confronted to a lack of drugs to treat the animal they examine. This situation is the result of economic and regulatory constraints. The small size of the veterinary market limits the return on investment and reduces innovation. The application of the Maximal Limits of Residues regulation improved the protection of the consumer of food from animal origin but was responsible for the impoverishment of the therapeutic arsenal in animal care and productions. Practitioners have to use the cascade system every day while it was initially planned for only exceptional situations of therapeutic deficiency. Import of veterinary drugs and the use of autogenous vaccines allow to mitigate part of the shortcomings. Improving durably the situation will require adaptations in both technical (extrapolation of the MLR, adaptation of withdrawal period for the cascade) and economic aspects (through the extension of the length of protection of the registration certificate for example).