Pharmacovigilance, where science meets practice

The theme of this year’s ISoP mid-year symposium encouraged members to reflect on how PV scientists may work better with clinicians to ensure medicine safety for their patients.

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The colour of signals

Herbal remedies have been used for thousands of years to treat what ails us. Yet why do we still know so little about their potential side effects compared to modern medicines?

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Disproportionality analysis: fast, but fragile, and easy to misuse

Disproportionality analysis is pharmacovigilance’s signal-detection workhorse. But more reports do not mean better evidence, and crude results can mislead.

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Pharmacovigilance in the time of a COVID-19 pandemic

The rapid creation and deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine was met head on with equally rapid improvements to medicine safety surveillance systems to effectively monitor them.

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Could social media vigilance aid pharmacovigilance?

The theme of this year’s WHO PIDM programme members meeting investigated the true value of social media in signal detection and creating effective communication strategies.

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Weeding out duplicates to better detect side-effects

Duplicate reports are a big problem when it comes to signal detection, but with the help of machine learning and new ways of comparing reports, we may more effectively detect them.

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When medicines change our behaviour – New podcast out now

Adverse effects to medicines are not just physical in nature, but can manifest as behavioural side-effects too. How do we diagnose and treat these complex ADRs?

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Looking beyond age to understand adverse reaction risk in older patients

When it comes to pharmacovigilance in older patients, age alone is insufficient as a measure of adverse reaction risk. Here is what we should consider instead.

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Updating our approach to study adverse reactions

The traditional “drug-event combination” approach is too simplistic for complex side effects such as behavioural changes. We must adjust our methodology to address this intricacy.

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How can the ‘Black Swan Theory’ help us Prevent Adverse Drug Reactions?

How does an economics theory apply to drug safety, and how can we use it to better manage rare, unexpected, and serious adverse drug reactions?

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