Can Pharmacy Colleges Act As Big Data Enabler In Pharmacovigilance?

Prof (Dr) Vandana Arora Sethi, Group Director, Lloyd Group of Institutions, talks about the rise in reporting on adverse drug reactions, and how institutionalising PV centres in the medical and pharmacy colleges of India can help the government and the healthcare industry overcome, or better tackle, this problem

Adverse drug reactions’ reporting is on the rise due to pharmacotherapy, hence pharmacovigilance (PV) is the key topic of discussion in healthcare circles. There has been a national directive to institutionalise a PV centre in every medical college of India and the thought of having the same is ripe for pharmacy colleges. There is an urgent and crucial need to inform, educate, and enlighten the readers about the constitution and dynamics of a PV centre.

Efforts have to be accelerated to contain the damage before it looms large on the country and there is a pressing demand to better define the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare professionals and medicine regulatory authorities so that deleterious effects of medicines in their routine use could be avoided and if at all this occurs, it should be effectively tackled.

PV is a central idea that will enable the country to examine drug safety data and arrive at tailor-made regulatory decisions for its population. For any drug, it is firstly desired by the users that the same should be absolutely safe and without any risk. PV envisions this at its core and scrutinises the drugs for their ADRs and sets a mechanism for noting drug effects to uphold the safety of people on priority.

Establishing a robust PV system in any country requires meticulous planning, continuing zeal, proactive approach and motivation of the concerned staff. PV has to ensure that future generations will not condemn the present one for its indifference and callousness to the gravity of the situation and no adverse effects should go unnoticed or unreported.

Roots of PV in history