05.09.14
New app to report adverse drugs reactions
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is leading a project to develop a mobile app for healthcare professional and the public to report suspected adverse drugs reactions (ADRs) to regulators, it was announced today.
The project, known as WEB-RADR, is expected to last three years and is being run in consortium with a number of organisations including EU medicines regulators, academics and the pharmaceutical industry.
WEB-RADR is being launched in response to the rapid adoption of smartphones, apps and social media for discussing issues with medicines and health. It will also investigate the potential for publicly available social media data for identifying potential drug safety issues.
In addition to reporting suspected ADRs the app could also serve as a platform to send accurate, timely and up to date medicines information to patients, clinicians, and caregivers.
This project is funded though the Innovative Medicines Initiative, a public private partnership between the European Commission and European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.
Mick Foy, Group Manager in the MHRA’s Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines division said: “The growing use of smartphones and tablets by patients and healthcare professionals creates a need for reporting forms to be provided on these platforms to ensure regulators receive ADR reports that are easy to access and complete.
“Additionally the recent growth of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and the many specialist sites and blogs has given rise to many people sharing their medical experiences publicly on the internet.
“Such data sharing, if properly harnessed, could provide an extremely valuable source of information the monitoring the safety of medicines after they have been licensed.
“WEB-RADR will deliver recommendations for international drug safety monitoring as to how these resources should be used ethically and scientifically.”
ADRs in the UK are currently monitored by the Yellow Card scheme, which was introduced in 1964.
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