WHO | WHO Launches Open Access to the WHO Global Medicines* Safety Database

"Pharmacovigilance, or drug safety, is the primary method used to identify hazards associated with medicinal products and with minimizing the risk of any harm that may come to patients. It is based on timely information sharing and transparency, so that noxious and unintended effects due to medicinal products, medication errors such as overdose, and misuse and abuse of medicines can be quickly addressed. To improve patient safety, increase transparency and encourage the reporting of adverse effects from medicinal products, the World Health Organization (WHO) will launch VigiAccessTM on 17 April. VigiAccess is a new web application that will allow anyone to access information on reported cases of adverse events related to over 150 000 medicines and vaccines. More than ten million cases from over 120 countries are held in VigiBaseTM , the WHO database of suspected adverse reaction reports maintained by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre in Sweden ..."