Pharmacovigilance in older adults – New podcast episode

In focus / 29 October 2024

Compared to the general population, older adults are more at risk of experiencing adverse drug reactions. Why is this the case, and what does this mean for pharmacovigilance?


Medication-related-harm (MRH) is especially prevalent in older adults due to changing physiology as the body ages, increased frailty, and the incidence of polypharmacy in this patient group. Giovanni Furlan, Worldwide Safety Site Lead for Thessaloniki of Pfizer discusses what makes this patient group so vulnerable to adverse drug reactions, how poor representation and using age alone to define older adults exacerbates this problem, and suggests ways forward in monitoring drug safety in older patients.

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