The Animal Health Distributors Association (AHDA) hosted its annual conference at the Birmingham Metropole Hotel on 27th–28th January 2025, marking 40 years of supporting SQPs in their role of supplying prescription animal medicines that do not require veterinary diagnosis.
CANTER joined over 50 exhibitor stands, featuring some of the leading animal health companies – along with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), Animal Medicines Training and Regulatory Authority (AMTRA), Control of Worms Sustainably (COWS) and Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) – in presenting content to support AHDA’s ongoing ‘Enhancing Responsible Prescribing’ campaign.
CANTER Core Steering Group members Jacqui Matthews, Lucy Coyne, and Claire Shand introduced the CANTER Guidelines via the AHDA Knowledge Hub, outlining CANTER’s aim to support prescribers with practical, evidence-based principles to slow wormer resistance. They demonstrated where and how to use the guidelines, introduced the CANTER Parasite Risk Profile, and provided guidance on its application. Prescribers were encouraged to read, refer to, and incorporate these resources into their customer interactions to enhance responsible prescribing.
CANTER’s key messages were also featured in the main speaker sessions, with expert presentations from Tamzin Furtado (on the science of human behaviour), Jacqui Matthews (on sustainable worm control in horses), and Claire Williams (on the current challenges facing the equine industry).
AHDA Secretary General Bryan Lovegrove welcomed CANTER’s involvement saying:
“AHDA represents 90% of the POM-VPS and NFA-VPS UK animal medicines market, bringing together distributors and producers from across the sector. It was fantastic to see CANTER members attend, represented alongside SCOPS and COWS. These well-established initiatives have already had a significant impact in enhancing responsible prescribing, and the equine sector has long needed a similar resource to drive progress. The CANTER presentations were well attended, and these lively, informal discussions were exactly what I envisioned when developing these new reflective CPD opportunities in the AHDA Conference Programme.”
Pictured main photo left to right, CANTER representatives, Lucy Coyne (NOAH), Tamzin Furtado (Liverpool University), Claire Shand (Westgate Labs) and Jacqui Matthews (Austin Davies Biologics).