Taking care of animals is a luxury

The medicines for pets have the same active ingredient and the same dosage as those for humans, but they also cost three times as much and vets are obliged to prescribe the more expensive ones

11/04/2015 – il Friuli.it

Taking care of Fido or Micio risks becoming truly a luxury. This trend is confirmed by the fact that veterinary drugs often cost twice as much as for humans, for the same active ingredient. The market for medicines for dogs, cats, fish and birds in our country is worth almost 500 million euros.
Between treatments and medicines, animals cost us an average of one hundred euros a year, but a third of Italian owners pay at least two or three times as much. Furthermore, for veterinary products there is no coverage by the National Health System: the cost is entirely borne by the owner. If we add to this the fact that generic veterinary surgeons are a rarity, it is clear that pet care represents a very high cost for families. For example, Metoclopramide (promotes intestinal motility and counteracts vomiting) in human medicine is available as Plasil and costs €1.89 per box; in veterinary medicine it is known as Vomend and costs 19 euros per pack.

Prohibition by law
But the cases are numerous and the Italian union of veterinarians, Sivelp, has created a site, pharmacoveterinario.it, in cui è possibile confrontare i prezzi dei farmaci. L’unica opportunità di risparmio, in realtà poco conosciuta, resta la possibilità di detrazione fiscale delle spese veterinarie a fronte della presentazione dello scontrino con codice fiscale (come avviene per i farmaci umani). “I veterinari, di fronte a questa situazione, sono praticamente impotenti – commenta Alberto Bernava, presidemte dell’Ordine dei veterinari di Udine -: è the law to require us not to prescribe medicines for human use to 'animal patients' when veterinary therapies with the same indications are available. The same goes for the drugs we buy ourselves, such as anesthetics for surgery. Furthermore, VAT must be charged to 22% on the fees for our visits”.

Ideas to save
“It would be appropriate to allow the veterinarian to be able to prescribe a similar drug for humans – wrote the regional councilor of Responsible Autonomy, Giuseppe Sibau in the question with which he asked the Giunta for an intervention at the Ministry of Health -. A simple regulatory change would be enough to allow veterinarians to prescribe generic medicines for pets as well. Furthermore, since the State is the largest owner of dogs (there are 600,000 in kennels in the peninsula) it would also be convenient for the public coffers to give the go-ahead for generics for animal use”.
Meanwhile theEnpa threw one petition to ask the Minister of Health to make the medical prescription of the active ingredient mandatory, rather than the brand name of the medicine, also for medicines intended for animal use while the Ministry is taking action to adhere to the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the relative Council to veterinary medicinal products which will be discussed in Brussels.

Examples: la terapia antiepilettica con fenobarbitale passa dai 5 euro della versione per l’uomo ai 40 di quella veterinaria. Lo stesso accade con la ranitidina (gastroprotettore per ulcera) – da 8,59 a 16 euro – e con le cefalosporine (un potente battericida) il cui prezzo lievita dai 3,9 a 27,5 euro. Naturalmente si tratta di costi relativi alla singola confezione e non all’intera durata della terapia, che per una famiglia a medio reddito può diventare insostenibile se dovesse essere prolungata nel tempo o addirittura per l’intera vita del pet. 

Related news: Cirinna’ (pd): “antitrust apra inchiesta su sproporzione farmaci animali e farmaci umani”

Nelle passate settimane l’onorevole Cirinnà ha chiesto all’antitrust di aprire un’inchiesta in merito alla sproporzione di prezzo tra farmaci umani e veterinari. «È in corso una evidente speculazione – ha detto la senatrice PD – visto che si tratta degli stessi principi attivi. Mi unisco alla richiesta del collega Michele Anzaldi per chiedere un’indagine all’autorità».