How we verify what is on vetmedex
Last verified
Each vetmedex page is one veterinary drug in one country. This page says where the facts come from, how a page is prepared and checked before it is published, and what a page does not claim.
What a page is
A page covers one veterinary drug as authorised in one country. Every fact on it carries a numbered source chip that leads to the source list at the bottom of the page. For each source the page shows the link to the original, the date we last checked it and, where we hold one, our own archive copy of the document, so a fact can still be checked if the original changes.
Where the facts come from
- Ukraine: the State register of veterinary drugs (Derzhprodspozhyvsluzhba, open data on data.gov.ua) and the manufacturer's leaflet.
- Poland: the Rejestr Produktów Leczniczych of the Centre e-Zdrowia (CeZ), with the leaflet and the summary of product characteristics (SPC) attached to each entry.
- United Kingdom: the Product Information Database of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD, Open Government Licence v3.0) and the SPC.
- Spain: CIMAVet of the Spanish Agency for Medicines (AEMPS), with the ficha técnica and the prospecto.
How a page is prepared and checked
The register gives the name, form, holder and dates. The text of the leaflet or SPC is taken from the official PDF of the same product. For Poland, the United Kingdom and Spain, software builds the pages from the registers and the PDFs. A page is published only after a separate verifier has compared its text with the source document. A page that fails, or whose document cannot be confirmed, is not published: it stays a draft that asks for the leaflet. In Ukraine each published page was prepared from the drug's leaflet and registration data; not every drug in the register has a page yet.
The verifier works to strict rules for numbers and sections. A veterinarian does not review each page one by one. Errors are possible, so a page always shows its source and the date it was checked.
Dosing
Dosing appears only as a word-for-word quotation of the manufacturer's leaflet or SPC, with its source. The page's own text never gives a dose. A quotation is not a recommendation: the veterinarian sets the dose.
Dispensing status
A dispensing status (prescription or not) always comes with its basis: the leaflet, the marketing authorisation or the law. When no source we may cite settles it, the page says the status is not established and does not guess.
Links to products with the same active substance
Links to products with the same active substance, in the same or in other countries, are navigation only. They are different medicines with different authorisations, not substitutes. The leaflet of the product in hand applies.