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AgVetLink June 2005

VICH 3 Conference in Washington DC 

More than 170 delegates from around the world attended the third VICH conference in May in Washington DC. (VICH is an international cooperation programme set up between Japan, EU and the USA to develop international guidelines for the registration of veterinary medicinal products.) There were three New Zealand attendees from the ACVM Group.  Debbie Morris is a member of the VICH Steering Committee and gave a presentation to the Conference on the benefits of VICH from the regulator’s viewpoint.

Keynote speaker Mr Pedro Lichtinger, President of Pfizer Animal Health and President-elect of IFAH, the International Federation of Animal Health, highlighted the utmost importance of international harmonisation through VICH for the research based Animal Health Industry developing new products in a sustainable global market. “VICH has been for this Industry a key strategic initiative since its creation nine years ago... We need a regulatory environment that encourages innovative Research and Development and our Industry therefore supports the process, the philosophy and the transparency of VICH.”

The conference marked the conclusion of the first phase of the VICH programme and all regions confirmed their commitment as the pivotal key element for continued success of VICH. The VICH3 conference sessions provided an opportunity for participants to obtain detailed information on the processes and scientific rationale for achieving the harmonised VICH Guidelines in the fields of Quality, Safety, Ecotoxicity, Biologicals Quality Monitoring, Pharmacovigilance, Target Animal Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance, and to discuss them with the experts.

The 17^th meeting of the Steering Committee is scheduled for 1-2 November 2005, in Kyoto, Japan.