Human Medicines Imported for Use in Animals

A case arose recently where the ACVM Group was asked to provide an import approval for a member of the public to import a human medicine for use on a cat. The ACVM Group has clarified this situation with the Ministry of Health and adopted the following policy:

“Applications for import of substances that are labelled as human medicines are dealt with by the Ministry of Health”.

This is in line with the current use of human medicines by veterinarians in New Zealand that is not controlled under the Animal Remedies Act.