Pharmacovigilace

Introduction

Pharmacovigilance (PV) is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects or any other drug-related problem.

Monitoring the safety of medicines includes all activities related to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects and other possible drug-related problems. This monitoring is carried out in a number of ways, including review and evaluation of suspected adverse reaction reports, published literature, epidemiological studies and additional clinical trial results.

Modern Pharma continually assesses new and emerging safety data as it becomes available and undertakes regulatory action as appropriate. In addition to contributing to the safety profiles of existing drugs, pharmacovigilance activities help to improve the knowledge set and contribute to the breadth of epidemiological data.

Pharmacovigilance is therefore vital for the advancement of medical understanding, future research and product development. Any improvements in safety or understanding will ultimately lead to improvements in patient care.