Pharmacovigilance – A Medication Safety Perspective

Abstract

The aim of pharmacovigilance (PV) is to evaluate the risk of adverse events of medication being administered to patients keeping in mind that no medication is completely safe [1]. Goal of therapeutics is to improve patient quality of life with minimizing risk and harmful effects associated with it. Medication safety is the process which optimizes the use of medicines and prevents from harm. Medicines are generally safe but as chemical in nature and xenobiotics to living organism are associated with unknown and known risk. Previously, drug safety issues were not discussed galanty due to false adversity consideration [2], but with time and awareness this has changed with highlighting the importance and necessity of pharmacovigilance. WHO classifies pharmacovigilance as the science and process that is associated with detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects or any other drug related problem [3]. Moreover, we should consider that the medications to be administered to patient must be assessed by the science of pharmacovigilance. It is the activity that majorly involve monitoring the effect of any medication during its life cycle starting from manufacturing to the patient’s use [4].