Comment from Molly Knight Forde
AnonymousSupportIndividual
Summary: The commenter supports the reauthorization of the Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA) but argues that the FDA should seek expanded authority from Congress. They specifically advocate for the ability to mandate label changes to mitigate public health risks, such as antibiotic resistance, resulting from the use of veterinary drugs in food animals.
While veterinary drugs provide great benefit to animals and their caretakers, the use of these drugs in food animals can have deadly unintended side effects. So far, ADUFA has primarily been focused on getting drugs to markets more quickly. Now is the time to address the unintended consequences of animal drugs particularly antibiotic resistance. FDA should ask Congress for greater authority to address antibiotic resistance as part of ADUFA reauthorization including the ability to require label changes when specific uses create a public health risk.