Psychiatry, It's A Killing.: FDA System For Recording Adverse Drug Events Perilously Deficient

Thursday, February 12, 2015

FDA System For Recording Adverse Drug Events Perilously Deficient

The system that the US FDA is using to gather and report on information about dangerous side effects from medications is extremely unreliable and needs a thorough overall, according to a study reported on by the New York Times. The main problem is that drug companies are not submitting their data properly.

"The study, by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, found that only about half of reports of serious side effects submitted by manufacturers met basic standards for completeness, containing a patient’s age, sex and the date the event took place. Reports collected by the F.D.A. itself, by contrast, were found to meet those basic standards in 85 percent of cases."

"The difference is noteworthy because drug makers’ reports account for close to 97 percent of all adverse events that are collected by the system," continued the Times. "The report analyzed more than 847,000 case reports received for the 12-month period that ended in March of 2014. Providing such details can be key to evaluating a drug and how different groups of people, such as women or older people, might react to it."

Drug Makers’ Data on Side Effects Is Called Lacking in a Report (New York Times, February 2, 2015)

Also see:

FDA study spanks drugmakers for poor adverse events reporting (FiercePharma, February 3, 2015)

FDA System for Reporting Side Effects Needs a ‘Thorough Overhaul:’ Study (Pharmalot, Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2015)

--Rob Wipond, News Editor