According to Art. 4 of the Therapeutic Products Act, medicinal products, including veterinary medicinal products, are products of chemical or biological origin which are intended or claimed to have a medicinal effect on the human or animal organism, in particular in the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of diseases, injuries and handicaps.
A distinction should be made in particular between veterinary medicinal products and animal feed, biocidal products and preparations pursuant to the Chemicals Act or “animal care products” (non-exhaustive list). Certain products fall in the overlap between two product categories. These are always classified on a case-by-case basis taking into account all of their properties.
Further information on the various legal bases for the individual product categories and details on the offices responsible for each can be found further down this page, in particular in the information sheet “Products for animals – an overview”.