Veterinary Subcommittee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (VetCAST)

• To establish a science-based committee that will cooperate with European professionals in veterinary medicine, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA);
• To determine antimicrobial breakpoints specific to the veterinary field;
• To harmonize veterinary antimicrobial susceptibility testing in the European Union (EU);
• To provide education on antimicrobial susceptibility testing and antimicrobial therapy in the veterinary field in Europe;
• To initiate and coordinate EU research aimed at filling the current gaps in veterinary antimicrobial susceptibility testing:
  • Missing or insufficient veterinary specific breakpoints (bacterial species-, animal host- and infection-specific breakpoints)
  • Optimized methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of bacterial pathogens of animal origin and zoonotic bacteria that can affect humans
• To ensure that antimicrobial susceptibility testing protocols and interpretive criteria are freely accessible online through the EUCAST website.

The vision of VetCAST is to contribute to global standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of bacterial pathogens of animal origin. In order to accomplish this ambitious mission, it is of paramount importance to obtain official recognition by EMA, ECDC and EFSA. The ultimate goal of VetCAST is to become an EU scientific-based operational body of EMA/CVMP for definition/approval veterinary-specific breakpoints. Examples of services that VetCAST could provide to EMA/CVMP include:

• To provide advice on the type and quality of the MIC, pharmacokinetic (PK) and clinical data needed for setting clinical breakpoints;
• To define clinical MIC breakpoints for new veterinary antimicrobial agents;
• To revise breakpoints for generic drugs;
• To advice on the bacterial spectrum of veterinary antimicrobial agents.

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