About MedPlants4Vet

MedPlants4Vet is a COST Action collaboration between 36 European members and associated countries.

During a period of four years (2024 to 2027) a broad scientific community will work together to gather information on herbal remedies for domestic species, in a user-friendly inventory.

Information that will be provided include:

herbal remedies used in various European countries
scientific information about the safety and efficacy of these remedies
recommendations for dosing regimens in individual species

The use of medicinal plants for the treatment of diseased animals has historically been an indispensable part of domestication. Worldwide medicinal plants are still important to control animal diseases. Nevertheless, the demand for natural products supporting animal health and welfare is increasing in the post-antibiotic era. Despite the growing interest of veterinarians and pet and livestock owners in herbal medicines to control animal diseases, and the demand for medicinal quality herbal products, such products are hardly available on the European market. Causes for the very low number of licensed products include the lack of harmonization of national regulations and the lack of guidance documents for market authorization of herbal veterinary medicinal products in the EU.

MedPlants4Vet will not only result in the identification of essential gaps of knowledge regarding individual traditional remedies, but will also enable the establishment of a decision tree that can be used as guidance for forthcoming regulations and licensing procedures.

MedPlants4Vet aims to bring together traditional herbal veterinary knowledge on a platform that is utilizable by all interested parties.

An extensive memorandum of understanding, detailing the envisioned activities of MedPlants4Vet, can be found on our COST-action page.