FOI release

FOI - Bravecto injection

Published 5 January 2026

ATI1121 Request

My dog had an injection of Bravecto and he died 6 days later. Have you had any other reports on this drug?

Our reply

Bravecto 150 mg/ml Powder and Solvent for Suspension for Injection for Dogs is a veterinary medicinal product (VMP) used for the treatment of tick and flea infestations in dogs. It is a systemic insecticide and acaricide that provides

• immediate and persistent flea (Ctenocephalides felis and Ctenocephalides canis) killing activity for 12 months;

• persistent tick killing activity from 3 days to 12 months after treatment for Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus;
• persistent tick killing activity from 7 days to 12 months after treatment for Ixodes hexagonus;
• persistent tick killing activity from 4 days to 12 months after treatment for Rhipicephalus sanguineus.

Information regarding a specific veterinary medicinal product can be found on that product’s Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC). SPCs can be accessed on https://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/ProductInformationDatabase/. The SPC for a product provides information in Section 3.6/4.6 on adverse events that have been known to occur following administration and in Section 3.8/4.8 on interactions with other medicinal products. No medicine is 100% risk free, and this information can be useful to evaluate the risks and benefits of a veterinary medicinal product. The SPC for Bravecto 150 mg/ml Powder and Solvent for Suspension for Injection for Dogs can be found here: https://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/ProductInformationDatabase/product/A013471

Pharmacovigilance updates can be found on our new page https://www.gov.uk/guidance/urgent-safety-updates-for-veterinary-medicines, this also includes any updates involving non-veterinary medicinal products used in animals. You can sign up to receive updates on this page via email by clicking on the ‘Get emails about this page’ button. A rolling 6-month list of SPC changes for veterinary medicinal products can be found on the monthly medicines update page (https://www.vmdconnect.uk/medicines-update).

Regarding your enquiry, we are able to provide the number of adverse events reports coded to Preferred Term (PT) level as per VeDDRA (VeDDRA (Veterinary Dictionary for Drug Regulatory Activities). All adverse events submitted to the VMD directly or from Marketing Authorisation Holders have their clinical signs coded using this standardised approach. Specifics of adverse events submitted are provided within a narrative section of the submission and the codes used may not exactly correlate verbatim with the detail provided in the narrative. Based on your enquiry, we have searched for all adverse event reports containing Bravecto 150 mg/ml Powder and Solvent for Suspension for Injection for Dogs and the PT level VeDDRA term ‘Death’ in dogs.

In our database, there are four recorded cases of death associated with Bravecto 150 mg/ml Powder and Solvent for Suspension for Injection for Dogs. The PT level term ‘Death’ encompasses multiple Low Level Terms (LLTs). Regarding the four cases mentioned above, three cases contain the LLT level VeDDRA term ‘Death by euthanasia’, one case contains the term ‘Sudden death’.

Any adverse event case report may involve simultaneous administration of one or more medicinal products, there may have been prior exposure to the reported product or to other products, and other products may have been administered at the same time. The number of animal deaths is not the number of confirmed deaths. In many of these cases further investigations and post-mortem examinations were not performed, or the results were not reported to us, and therefore it is not known whether the product was linked to the cause of death. The number of animal deaths also includes all reports when the product was used off-label (i.e., not according to manufacturer’s recommendations), or reports where, on further evaluation, it was confirmed that there were other reasons for the death. 

Please be aware that the data we have provided above are not subject to independent verification and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) does not guarantee their accuracy. Evaluation is dependent on the accuracy and quality of data received from veterinary professionals and animal owners, and reporting frequency can vary over time.

If you or someone else involved with the case has not yet reported this adverse event to the relevant Marketing Authorisation Holder (MAH, pharmaceutical company) then please do so or speak to your veterinarian, who may be able to do this on your behalf. MAH contact details can be found within the product information that comes packaged with a medicine, on the MAH’s website, or by searching for the product on the Product information Database: https://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/ProductInformationDatabase/, which contains details of all authorised VMPs. The MAH for Bravecto 150 mg/ml Powder and Solvent for Suspension for Injection for Dogs is MSD Animal Health and their adverse event reporting form can be found here: https://www.msd-animal-health-hub.co.uk/pvform.

MAHs have a legal obligation to report all adverse event reports they receive to the VMD within 30 days of awareness, as per paragraph 57 of The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 and the accompanying guidance in Guideline III Adverse event reporting - GOV.UK.