The UK's animal medicines industry now has access to a new digital service designed to simplify the submission of pharmacovigilance reports to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD). The VMD Industry Pharmacovigilance Reporting Service went live on 10 July 2026, providing Marketing Authorisation Holders (MAHs) with a more efficient platform to meet their regulatory obligations concerning the safety of veterinary medicines.
This new service consolidates several types of submissions into a single online portal. These include Benefit-Risk Submission Reports, Pharmacovigilance Sales Submissions, dose factor justifications, signal notifications, and XML reports. The VMD states that the platform has been developed to offer a more user-friendly experience compared to previous reporting methods, aiming to enhance compliance across the sector.
Key features integrated into the service include the ability for MAHs to track the status of their submissions, export logs of their reports, and benefit from in-system validation to minimise errors. It also offers digital forms for specific report types, such as Benefit-Risk Submission Reports and signal notifications. A built-in product dictionary further aids users by allowing for easy visualisation and selection of product groups and related information, streamlining the data entry process.
The VMD has launched the service as an optional beta version and is actively encouraging MAHs to utilise the feedback function within the platform. This feedback is crucial for the VMD to identify areas for improvement and to guide the development of additional functionality, which is already planned for rollout over the coming year. For now, MAHs who prefer to use the existing VMDS secure messaging service for report submissions still have that option.
This latest development follows the introduction of an Adverse Event Reporting Service for animal owners, veterinary professionals, and Suitably Qualified Persons, which launched on 20 May 2026. Together, these initiatives represent a significant push by the VMD to modernise and digitalise the reporting of animal medicine safety data across the entire ecosystem, from consumers to manufacturers.