ACCESSIBILITY TO VETERINARY MEDICINAL PRODUCTS IN BEEKEEPING IN EUROPE – WEBINAR

Minutes Transnational Event for Stakeholders

INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM

The beekeeping sector is an agricultural sector with a relatively small economic dimension in Europe. Except for some countries,especially those belonging to the European Mediterranean Sea region (Spain, Italy, Greece, etc.) and Germany, often, pharmaceutical industries do not find an economic interest in developing the R&D needed to develop new molecules or (Veterinary Medicinal Products (VMPs) or to request for authorisation of new products. Furthermore, there is a concern about the possible harm that synthetic acaricides may create to the bees. Pharmaceutical suppliers do not find it interesting to import, even at intracommunitarian level, VMPs authorised in other countries due to the lack of economic sales volume. This, together with the lack of profitability of the sector coming from a combination of increased colony losses and costs of production, reduction in production due to the climate and reduced selling prices, make that beekeepers often opt for the cheaper option for treating their colonies against varroa.

Furthermore, many VMPs’ active ingredients are basic low-risk substances such as essential oils or organic acids, easily found in grocery shops and leaving no residues in the hives. In this situation, different countries have proposed diverse approaches to enable the accessibility of VMPs to beekeepers, and the EU ease the authorisation of VMPs for varroa treatment.

The webinar is meant to bring together the activities happening at the EU level and the different Member States to facilitate access of beekeepers to VMPs, the different initiatives following the resistance of varroa to current VMPs and the views of the industry developing these products. Following the presentations, discussion groups will be proposed to identify the different blockers and challenges in different member states and propose solutions to enable more VMP accessibility to the beekeeping sector to treat varroa.

PROGRAMME

1 – Welcome words and Introduction to the topic by moderator (Noa Simon, BeeLife and member of Bee Health Committee of Apimondia)

2 – The situation from the field:
-Presentation of the situation at EU level and the reflection paper on ectoparasite resistance monitoring systems in Europe (Barbara Cyrus, EMA)
-Presentation of the situation at national level:
Slovenia (Peter Kozmus)
Belgium (Ellen Danneels)
Romania (Cristina Șurlea)
Spain (Juan Molina)

3 – Facilities provided to industry to fast-track accessibility of VMPs in Europe (Barbara Cyrus, EMA)

4 – Presentation from 2 companies:
Experiences with European authorisation process – (Dominik Hohl, BeeVital)
Engaging with beekeeping sector to bring new products – (Remi Pade, Veto-Pharma)

5 – Break out sessions for discussion

6 – Wrap-up from the breakout and closing remarks