The UK’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) has reported a year of significant progress after publishing its Annual Report and Accounts for 2025/26, highlighting improved regulatory performance, stronger enforcement efforts, and continued work to protect animal and public health.
The report outlines achievements across medicine approvals, antimicrobial resistance initiatives, online enforcement, and preparations for post-Brexit regulatory changes, reflecting the agency’s continued focus on ensuring veterinary medicines remain safe, effective, and readily available.
Regulatory Targets Reached Across Key Areas
The VMD met or exceeded many of its core performance targets during the year.
National applications for veterinary medicines were processed with a 100% success rate, improving from 96% in the previous reporting period.
The regulator also achieved full compliance in inspections, import and export certification schemes, and the handling of product defects.
Meanwhile, performance in processing other types of applications rose dramatically to 99%, compared with just 56% the year before.
Overall, the organisation assessed its performance against 38 published service standards.
Of those, 22 met compliance targets every time, while another 13 recorded compliance rates between 95% and 99%. Only one
