EU to measure impact of pharmacovigilance activities

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) declared on Monday that it is organising a seminar to discuss methods to measure the impact of pharmacovigilance activities on patient safety on December 5 to 6.

The aim of this seminar is to facilitate the implementation of the "strategy on measuring the impact of pharmacovigilance activities" by recommending methodologies to measure the impact of pharmacovigilance activities and fostering the conduct of collaborative impact research with the scientific community.

In January 2016, EMA's Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) adopted this strategy which details how to gather data and knowledge on the concrete effect of measures and processes meant to ensure the safe use of medicines for patients in the European Union (EU).

Measuring the impact of such activities is crucial in order to know whether the actions taken to minimize the risks of a medicine have been effective. It also allows regulators and stakeholders to determine which activities are most successful and to identify enablers for and barriers to such activities.

This seminar will bring together the expertise from international partners and stakeholders who participate in pharmacovigilance activities.

It is expected to provide an overview of existing methods applied by various stakeholders to measure how effectively pharmacovigilance activities have been implemented in healthcare systems and how regulatory actions have changed the use of medicines in clinical practice for the benefit of patients. Endit