FDA Reports & Data Dashboards: Veterinary Antimicrobial Drug Sales, Use, and Resistance

Collecting and reporting information related to antimicrobial sales, use, and resistance are essential to understanding trends and to assessing the impact of antimicrobial stewardship efforts over time. Provided below are summary data from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System and the Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network, antimicrobial use data, and antimicrobial drug sales and distribution data (with the application of the biomass denominator).

National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS)

FDA is part of the NARMS program, a collaborative surveillance system including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and state and local public health departments and universities that collects information on antimicrobial resistance in foodborne bacteria. The purpose of NARMS is to track resistance trends to help in the pre-approval evaluation of new animal antibiotics, to identify emerging resistance hazards, and to measure interventions aimed at limiting resistance. To do this, NARMS monitors antimicrobial susceptibility in enteric bacteria from humans (CDC), retail meats (FDA), and food-producing animals (USDA).

Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN)

To investigate potential problems with FDA-regulated products for animals, including animal food or animal drugs, Vet-LIRN collaborates with veterinary diagnostic laboratories to provide scientific information to internal and external stakeholders, build laboratory capacity for routine and emergency response, and train scientists.

Antimicrobial Animal Drug Use Data

Data about how antimicrobial drugs are being used improves our understanding about the drivers of antimicrobial resistance and helps to identify use practices that need to be improved.

Antimicrobial Animal Drug Sales and Distribution Data

Section 105 of the Animal Drug User Fee Amendments of 2008 (ADUFA) requires sponsors of antimicrobial drug sponsors to report to FDA annually the amount of antimicrobial active ingredient in their drugs that have been sold or distributed for use in food-producing animals.

Biomass-Adjusted Antimicrobial Animal Drug Sales and Distribution Data

An interactive summary of biomass-adjusted sales and distribution data in food-producing animals applies a biomass denominator to adjust existing annual antimicrobial sales data for medically important antimicrobial drugs sold or distributed for use in food-producing animals (cattle, swine, chickens, and turkeys) in the United States. Biomass-adjusted sales estimates allow for interpretation of antimicrobial sales trends relative to the U.S. livestock population.