Veterinary medicines sent from India seized in Belfast

Two boxes of Toxo-mox 250 (200 tablets) and 10 boxes of Drontal plus tablets (200 tablets) were detained and seized by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs at a Belfast depot after these veterinary medicines were identified by a courier company based at the depot. The parcel was addressed to residential premises in Belfast, County Antrim. The parcel had been shipped from India. The medicines are not authorised UK medicines. There is a UK authorised version of Drontal plus and it is used as a dewormer for cats and dogs. Toxo-mox is an antibiotic for cats and dogs. The medicines were seized under Regulation 25 (Importation of unauthorised veterinary medicinal products) of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013.

Toxo-mox is available from an India online pharmacy for veterinary products.

Comment: The information comes from the UK government website. It's interesting in one way because what immediately came to mind was whether a person in the UK can order veterinary medicines online from a retailer in India. I checked a couple of Indian websites selling animal medicines and one of them stocked the above-mentioned medicines but they only shipped within India.

I suspect, therefore, that in this instance a person in India bought the medicines online from the Indian retailer and then sent the parcel to their contact in Belfast. It indicates that a person in the UK can get their hands on discount veterinary medicines without going through a veterinarian. I'm particularly thinking of the antibiotics which to the best of my knowledge can only be obtained in the UK on prescription from a veterinarian.

I have made a presumption that the prices in India are cheaper than those in the UK. This may be why the medicines were shipped to the UK. That and the fact that the receiver probably couldn't get hold of them any other way than from India.