Antimicrobial sales increased last year, FDA data shows

Antimicrobial sales for drugs used in food-producing animals rose last year, according to a new FDA report. But overall, sales have declined over the past several years.

Domestic sales and distribution of medically important antimicrobials approved for use in food-producing animals increased 9% from 2017 to 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in its annual summary report.

The FDA has issued this data for about a decade, after Congress enacted the reporting requirement in 2008. It’s part of a push by the federal government, along with health agencies around the world, to monitor antimicrobial use and prevent antibiotic resistance.

Last year, the FDA reported a 33% drop in sales of antibiotics for 2017, a substantial difference from the increase this year. The previous report was also the first one issued that covered a full year of data under a new rule requiring veterinary prescriptions for antibiotics considered essential to human health.

The FDA’s report notes that sales data doesn’t indicate what conditions the drugs were actually used to treat. Nor does it show how much veterinarians actually used after purchasing the drugs.

Since 2009, when the agency began issuing the report, sales of medically important antimicrobials have dropped 21%. And since 2015, when sales peaked, they’ve dropped 38%.