Healthcare Providers And Patients Are Encouraged To Report Adverse Events Involving Approved Or Unapproved Indications As Well As Medication Errors
(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)
In October 2006 Quintiles Inc., a leading CRO company, conducted a survey titled "Consumer Perceptions on Drug Safety" that consisted of 1726 US men and women aged 18 years and over. As some may recall, at that time there was a heightened public awareness about drug safety issues in the U.S. due to the Vioxx recall and concerns about pediatric antidepressant use.
An article about this survey -- "Public perceptions of the pharmaceutical industry and drug safety: implications for the pharmacovigilance professional and the culture of safety." -- appeared in the January 1, 2009 edition of the Drug Safety medical journal.
From the Abstract from this article:
The survey results showed that the FDA, Congress and US pharmaceutical companies are perceived as having a notable amount of responsibility to ensure safety (by 75%, 41% and 70% of respondents, respectively). Additionally, 96% of the survey respondents indicated that they had some level of concern about adverse reactions to prescription drugs that are taken as directed. Seventy-six percent of the respondents were 'fairly' to 'extremely' concerned about adverse reactions, while approximately 42% of the survey respondents' opinions ranged from 'somewhat distrusting' to 'strongly distrusting' of the pharmaceutical companies that develop drugs. These findings are comparable to those in surveys conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2005 and PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2007. These surveys suggest that about half the respondents believe there is both the need and desire for reform in drug safety by the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA.
This January 2009 article closes by encouraging all persons with personal knowledge about a serious adverse reaction involving a prescription drug to submit a MedWatch report to the FDA.
We second that call-to-action by the good folks at Quintiles.
______________________________________________________________________________
DrugInjuryLaw.com: Legal Information And News About Prescription Drug Side Effects