Open Access Pharmacovigilance Journals

Ultimately, pharmacovigilance is concerned with identifying the hazards associated with pharmaceutical products and with minimizing the risk of any harm that may come to patients. Companies must conduct a comprehensive drug safety and pharmacovigilance audit to assess their compliance with worldwide laws, regulations, and guidance Pharmacovigilance has its own unique terminology that is important to understand. Most of the following terms are used within this article and are peculiar to drug safety, although some are used by other disciplines within the pharmaceutical sciences as well. Adverse drug reaction is a side effect (non intended reaction to the drug) occurring with a drug where a positive (direct) causal relationship between the event and the drug is thought, or has been proven, to exist. Adverse event (AE) is a side effect occurring with a drug. By definition, the causal relationship between the AE and the drug is unknown. Benefits are commonly expressed as the proven therapeutic good of a product but should also include the patient's subjective assessment of its effects.