FOI release

FOI - Sales data used to compile the Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance and Sales Surveillance 2023 reports

Published 19 November 2025

ATI1097 Request

To provide the sales data used to compile the Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance and Sales Surveillance 2023 reports.

I would like the data provided to be broken down by individual drug rather than simply as an antibiotic family.

Our reply

For commercial sensitivity reasons, we are only able to provide information by active ingredient where this active ingredient is sold by at least three Marketing Authorisation Holders. This is because we judge that the Section 43 exemption of the Freedom of Information Act, information that constitutes a trade secret or would, or would be likely to, prejudice commercial interests, applies to identifiable sales data. After careful consideration we conclude that the public interest in withholding the information strongly outweighs that for disclosure.

In some cases, a figure can be provided for total tonnes (which looks at products licensed for all animal species) but not for mg/PCU (which only looks at products licensed for food producing animals).

Active ingredient Total tonnes mg/PCU
Amoxicillin 47.14 6.02
Ampicillin Redacted Redacted
Apramycin Redacted Redacted
Benethamine Penicillin Redacted Redacted
Benzylpenicillin Redacted Redacted
Cefalexin 3.00 0.06
Cefalonium Redacted Redacted
Cefapirin Redacted Redacted
Cefoperazone Redacted Redacted
Cefovecin Redacted Redacted
Cefquinome Redacted Redacted
Ceftiofuir Redacted Redacted
Chlortetracycline 32.52 4.77
Clindamycin 0.53 Redacted
Cloxacillin Redacted Redacted
Danofloxacin Redacted Redacted
Dihydrostreptomycin Redacted Redacted
Doxycycline 17.91 2.61
Enrofloxacin 0.46 0.06
Florfenicol 4.65 0.68
Framycetin Redacted Redacted
Gamithromycin Redacted Redacted
Gentamicin Redacted Redacted
Kanamycin Redacted Redacted
Lincomycin 6.02 0.88
Marbofloxacin 0.23 0.03
Metronidazole 1.40 Redacted
Neomycin 5.25 0.77
Oxytetracycline 12.29 1.76
Paromomycin Redacted Redacted
Penethemate 0.17 0.03
Phenoxymethylpenicillin Redacted Redacted
Pradofloxacin Redacted Redacted
Procaine benzylpenicillin 3.76 0.55
Spectinomycin 3.89 0.57
Spiramycin Redacted Redacted
Sulfadiazine 15.01 2.20
Sulfamethoxazole Redacted Redacted
Tetracycline Redacted Redacted
Tiamulin 9.45 1.39
Tildipirosin Redacted Redacted
Tilimicosin 2.43 0.36
Trimethoprim 3.56 0.52
Tulathromycin 0.47 0.07
Tylosin Redacted Redacted
Tylvalosin Redacted Redacted
Total (including redacted amounts) 200.05 27.72

Note:

  • In line with VARSS methodology, topical products have been removed from total tonnes
  • Mg/PCU relates to food animals only (which for the purposes of this calculation includes horses)
  • These figures do not completely match those previously published in VARSS 2023 as there have been some recent data corrections, particularly relating to an equine product containing trimethoprim and sulfadiazine, and the 2023 equine denominator data has also been updated to reflect the data published by the British Equine Trade Association (BETA UK)