Message from the Managing Director

News from IFAH-Europe

Latest EU News & Developments

Animals Health Explained

Calendar of events

Dear Reader,

May and June have been busy months for IFAH-Europe, with the organisation of its annual general assembly, of its annual conference and with the presentation of the results of the new European Benchmarking survey. June is also the month we released our new annual report of activities, which is available on our website and provides a full overview of our activities and priorities.

IFAH-Europe will launch the Action Plan of the European Technology Platform for Global Animal Health (ETPGAH) in July. This will be a major step in IFAH-Euope’s continued efforts for an increased dialogue and higher efficiency in the fight against animal diseases. 

The federation is already actively preparing Autumn 2007 and the return of a European Pet Night in Brussels, an event to celebrate the benefits of healthy animals to humans. We would also draw your attention to the IFAH Global Animal Health Conference organised in collaboration with DIA and scheduled to take place in November in London.

Wishing you all a pleasant summer

Best regards,

Declan O'Brien
Managing Director
IFAH-Europe

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IFAH-Europe annual conference attracts 120 experts in Brussels. Results of the new European benchmarking survey are unveiled

The 2007 IFAH-Europe annual conference “Veterinary medicines regulation - Is Europe still at the cutting edge of innovation?” gathered some 120 experts from European and national public authorities, industry and key stakeholders in Animal Health to exchange views on better regulation for the animal health industry.

In line with the recent initiative by the European Union on better regulation, the conference allowed IFAH-Europe to present the outcome of the 2006 European Benchmarking survey as well as proposals to reform the current regulatory framework to maintain current levels of innovation and competitiveness in Europe. The European Benchmarking survey on better regulation for the animal health sector is part of a broader exercise that measures the performance of regulatory systems in the EU, USA, Canada, Japan and Australia.

IFAH-Europe Managing Director Declan O’Brien, stressed the importance of a more efficient regulatory system in Europe for the Animal Health industry: “Our benchmarking study shows that cost and time to the market are higher in the EU than in other world regions. This clearly places the EU at a competitive disadvantage. Good regulation is therefore key for our industry, which has a significant socio-economic contribution to the European Union through aspects as various as research and development, animal health and welfare”.

Participants agreed that further exchanges are needed in the near future between European and national regulatory authorities as well as with the industry to attain the goals set by the better regulation action plan.

“The objective must be to create a fair and equitable system for the benefit of companies launching new veterinary medicinal products”, concluded Declan O’Brien, IFAH-Europe Managing Director. “We are keen to enhance the pro-active dialogue between industry and authorities to improve the existing regulatory framework. We would like to see time and cost to the market as well as defensive research and development each reduced by 20%. In the end, we all have a common interest: Europe must remain world class in Animal Health.”

For presentations, press release and pictures of the event go to:
http://www.ifaheurope.org/events/vetenary_medecines.htm

120 experts attended the IFAH-Europe conference

IFAH-Europe 2006 Annual Report

The 2006 IFAH-Europe annual report of activities has just been published. It will take you through the achievements of the federation in 2006, across the activities of our federation in regulatory affairs, food chain and communications, and details our challenges and perspectives in these areas.  We hope you will enjoy its new design and content.

Paper copies of the report can be requested by email to p.barcellona@ifahsec.org

The electronic version is available for download at:
http://www.ifaheurope.org/publications/IFAHEurope_Annual_report_2006.pdf

European Pet Night 2007

The third edition of European Pet Night organised by IFAH-Europe will take place on November 21st, 2007 in Brussels. This event follows the successful Pet Nights organised in 2002 and 2003.

Why a Pet Night? Over 70 millions companion animals in Europe share a passionate, life-long bond with their owners. European Pet Night 2007 will feature associations dedicated to developing and strengthening the animal/human partnership through, for example, the training of assistance animals and will give thanks to the contribution of animals to our society.

IFAH-Europe has long been committed to contributing to healthy, happy companion animals for the benefit of society at large. European Pet Night 2007 switches roles and gives recognition to the unique contribution of animals to human well-being, by their mere presence or by the services they provide to humans.

European Pet Night is part of an international network of similar events organised throughout the world by other IFAH member organisations such as NOAH in the UK and the Aniaml Health Insitute in the USA. All echo the same message: “Animals are good for you, be good to them”.

More details on the programme and venue will follow after summer on the IFAH-Europe website’s events section.

IFAH-Europe elects new Council

IFAH-Europe members elected a new Council at the General Assembly held in Brussels on 5 June 2007. With Brian Clark as Chairman, the Council will guide the federation's work for the next two years.

The IFAH-Europe Council (IEC), which comprises representatives from five European animal health companies and five national animal health associations, elected Brian Clark (Virbac) as Chairman, Martin Schneidereit (BfT) and Jochen Wieda (Intervet) as Vice-Chairs and Folkert Kamphuis (Novartis) as Treasurer at their first meeting on 5 June 2007, following the General Assembly. Jean-Louis Crosia (Merial), Santiago de Andrés (Veterindustria), Jean-Louis Hunault (SIMV), Jens Kjær (Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health), Henriette Pagh Kohl (VIF) and Phil Sketchley (NOAH) are also Council Members.

Brian Clark, IFAH-Europe Chairman, confirmed that the federation is in good health. "I am proud to see that IFAH-Europe's membership is increasing.", he said, in reference to new members - including Huvepharma, Orion Corporation and the animal health associations in Finland, Norway and Sweden, which joined the federation in 2006 and 2007.

"Under the leadership of the newly elected Council, IFAH-Europe will continue to work towards a pro-active stakeholder dialogue with European institutions and other stakeholders on key policy areas for the benefit of animal health and welfare", he concluded.

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Alternatives to Animal Testing: IFAH-Europe actively supporting the EPAA

IFAH-Europe strengthens its firm commitment to the EPAA, European Platform for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing, and to its goal of refining, reducing and replacing the use of animals in safety assessment tests (the 3 R initiative).

On 5 June 2007, IFAH-Europe attended the EPAA’s industry members’ forum aimed at reviewing sectors’ priorities in light of the action programme and critically assessing the progress achieved and the industry’s contribution to date. Addressing the audience, IFAH-Europe reaffirmed that animal welfare is an important driver for vets and that alternative tests are less expensive to conduct for our sector. IFAH-Europe warned against increased regulatory testing requirements (the “regulatory creep”) that might threaten the 3R goals and called for more academic and industry collaboration and cost-sharing into research alternatives. The meeting gathered all EPAA member companies and supporting associations (working group experts, heads of toxicology divisions, 3Rs experts and public affairs specialists).

More information can be obtained from the EPAA industry secretariat, Mrs Irene Manou, imanouepaa@ifahsec.org

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Zoonoses

A zoonosis (from the Greek “zoon”, animal and “nosos”, disease) is an infectious disease that may be transmitted from animals to humans or from humans to animals. Many serious diseases fall under this category, such as toxoplasmosis, psittacosis (virus), ringworm (fungus) and salmonellosis (bacterial infection).

A number of modern human diseases, even epidemic diseases, started out as zoonotic diseases. It is hard to be certain which diseases jumped from animals to humans, but there is good evidence that measles, smallpox, influenza, and diphtheria came to us this way.

The threat of zoonoses highlights the importance of healthy animals for human health. IFAH-Europe is actively involved in the European Technology Platform for Global Animal Health (ETPGAH), an initiative that brings together all relevant stakeholders and concentrates efforts on issues where scientific breakthroughs are needed. The platform’s visionary Strategic Research Agenda (2005) and its Action Plan (to be launched this summer) are concrete steps taken by the alliance of stakeholders to fight the spread of such diseases.

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• 29 July-4 August 2007, Leipzig (Germany): 13th international conference on production diseases (ICPD) in farm animals AIWP/FCC, more information here

• 2-5 September 2007, Rotterdam (The Netherlands): 14th international workshop on campylobacter, helicobacter and related organisms (CHRO). Registration and programme can be viewed here

• 4 October 2007, Parma (Italy), EFSA symposium on food safety, nutrition and nanotechnology. Details and access to the registration form

• 4 October 2007, Copenhagen (Denmark): TOPRA Veterinary Symposium "European veterinary medicines: What are the challenges through to 2010?". The event’s full brochure can be viewed at this link

• 15-16 November 2007, London (United Kingdom): DIA/IFAH Global Animal Health Conference. More information

• 21 November 2007, Brussels (Belgium): European Pet Night 2007

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