New VMD data warning issued over medicine broach date limit breaches

New figures have revealed nearly one-fifth of recently inspected veterinary practices were unlawfully using medicines beyond their use by dates.

Clinicians have been warned they must comply with individual products’ broach limits in the first of a new regular series of VMD reports.

The paper also revealed a major surge in reports relating to fake flea and tick treatments in recent months, plus plans for new work to tackle illegal POM-V sales.

The document, published on 2 March, sets out the results of VMD inspection and enforcement activities carried out during October and November last year.

Inspections

During that period, a total of 100 veterinary practices were inspected, with breaches of medicine broach limits being found in 18% of cases. The report said products with broach limits must be used within the specified limits once the product has been opened and the first dose is administered.

It went on: “Vets must follow these limits and they should do this by writing the date the bottle was first broached or the date it must be used by on the bottles. Once the limit has passed, it is illegal to use it again.”

The report also stressed that clinicians should not use products if they did not know whether it was still in date.

A slightly higher proportion of the inspections, 21%, also revealed cases where not all of the information required when supplying or prescribing medicines was recorded.

Critical

The VMD said it was critical that all required details were recorded to ensure “appropriate traceability and justification” for the product’s usage.

The practice inspections account for just more than half of the 188 premises assessed during the period covered by the report, while 200 new enforcement cases were recorded during that time.

Five enforcement notices, relating to the seizure of illegally imported veterinary medicines, were also issued in that period.

But the document, of which subsequent editions are due to be published every two months, also highlighted developments in key areas of the directorate’s recent enforcement work.

Counterfeit parasiticides

It said there had been a 700% increase in reports of counterfeit flea and tick products since its public warning on the topic, issued in conjunction with the Intellectual Property Office, last summer.

A total of 49 cases have been reported since then, including 11 in October and November alone, compared to just six in all available historical data prior to June last year.

The report added that “several eBay sellers and retailers” had already been contacted on the issue.

Elsewhere, officials have confirmed work is already underway on a new intelligence project intended to help reduce illegal sales of POM-V medicines via non-authorised retailers and social media platforms.

Congress

The issue was first publicly highlighted in a presentation at the BCVA Congress in October, and the report said several listings of partly used or leftover medicines had been removed from platforms including Facebook Marketplace and Vinted.

The directorate is also planning to issue separate analysis into the issue of prescription fraud after data revealed 1,852 incidents were reported between January 2023 and June 2025.

More than four out of five (84%) cases related to tampering with prescriptions, while the remaining 16% were described as “complete fabrications”.