Portugal, December 2025

Calling all young researchers and students in veterinary medicine, pharmacy (pharmaceutical biology), pharmacology and animal science! Join us in Santarém, Portugal, from December 10-12, 2025, for an exciting, free multi-day course on herbal veterinary medicine, how it is handled under current legislation, and what might its future look like in a regulated context.

This three-day course provides participants with a structured overview of the legal frameworks governing herbal veterinary medicinal products in Europe. It begins with a historical introduction to herbal veterinary medicine and interesting recent state of the art information, followed by a presentation of key European legal milestones. 

The current regulatory frameworks in the EU and selected European countries - as well as a short comparison with the legal situation for herbal medicinal products in human medicine – will be discussed. 

Building on this knowledge, participants will engage in small group workshops to analyse and discuss real-live cases. These case studies, prepared in advance of the course by each participant (see “prerequisite”), will be discussed in light of existing legal frameworks of the EU and European countries. The groups will explore how such applications could be adapted to comply with legislation.

Results from the group work will be presented in the plenary and the course will conclude with a discussion of future perspectives in veterinary herbal medicine as well as in herbal veterinary medicinal products. 

Prerequisite

The course is designed for young researchers as well as practitioners in veterinary medicine, pharmacy (pharmaceutical biology), pharmacology and animal science. Basic knowledge in one of these areas is required. 

Furthermore, each individual participant must prepare a case study based on an interview with an end user (veterinarian, farmer, pet owner) or producer (industry representative, manufacturer, pharmacist). The case study should describe:

• A real live scenario, including the (anonymised) interviewee, animal species, indication or treatment goal, medicinal plant or herbal product and the mode of application.
• The legal understanding of the interviewee and their approach to navigate the current legal framework (as far as they are aware of it). 

Applicants must submit the idea for their case study with their application. Case development will be supported by an online workshop prior to the course in Portugal.

Course management

Myriam Taghouti, Feedinov, myriam.taghouti(at)feedinov.com

Registration

15.08.-15.09.2025

For questions regarding registration process, please contact 

• Elsa Kanner, FiBL Switzerland, elsa.kanner(at)fibl.org
• Nikola Čudina, University of Zagreb, ncudina(at)vef.unizg.hr