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How to complete an application for the ‘in-feed’ route of administration classification on the List of Permitted Substances

In preparation for the planned publication of the updated Feed Regulations (anticipated in Fall 2023), short substance applications (SSA) aimed at adding the “in-feed” route of administration to all active and excipient (non-medicinal) ingredients can begin to be filed to Health Canada.

Apart from the 12 VHPs notified for in-feed use during the pilot project in 2021, in-feed administration of VHPs continues to be prohibited until the updated Feeds Regulations are published. However, by submitting applications and having substances pre-emptively added to the List of Permitted Substances for in-feed use, stakeholders will be able to immediately submit their desired in-feed VHPs for notification upon publication of the updated Feeds Regulations.

To learn how to complete your In-Feed substance application and discover our application key points, follow the instructions below.

1. Submit the Short Substance Application on Health Canada’s website

Visit Health Canada’s Veterinary Health Products – Notification Program webpage

Head to Health Canada’s Veterinary Health Products – Notification Program webpage, and login or sign up to create your profile. Once you are logged in to your profile, a drop down option will appear on the ‘Permitted Substances’ tab. Click on the drop down arrow and select ‘Start a New Substance Application‘.

Select the application type

For all In-Feed administration applications, whether your substance is currently on the List of Permitted Substances (LPS) or not, select ‘Start a new Short Substance Application‘. Some applications for substances not yet listed on the LPS may also require a Long Substance Application, but Health Canada will follow up with the applicant to request that additional documentation if it is needed.

Complete the Short Substance Application

Complete the various pages of the Short Substance Application with the required information and submit when finished.

Short Substance Application key points

• On the ‘Type’ page, select ‘Modification of an ingredient already listed on the List of Permitted Substances’ if your substance is an active or excipient ingredient already listed on the LPS. If your substance is not currently listed on the LPS, select either ‘New Active Ingredient’ or ‘New Non-medicinal (excipient) ingredient’ as applicable.
• Select the appropriate livestock species within the list of ‘Intended Species’. Companion animals are not available via the in-feed route of administration and will therefore not be considered for review if selected.

2. Complete the Potential Drug Incompatibility Assessment

An important part of the in-feed submission process is an assessment of drug incompatibility using the Potential Drug Incompatibility Assessment document. This document is available on the VHP website (here) and must be attached to the substance application via the ‘Add File’ button for Support Documents subsection (1.6.2) within the ‘Supplementary Information’ section of the application.

Potential Drug Incompatibility Assessment key points

• Within every summary of findings field, provide a written overview of the relevant scientific findings your search generated. If there were no findings, indicate that by noting ‘nothing found’ or ‘not applicable’ in the summary of findings field. This ensures to the Health Canada reviewer that all sources were purposefully checked as part of your assessment.

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More information

More information on the VHP notification program is available on Health Canada’s website.

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