A Review on Pharmacovigilance and Its Methodologies

*Suruchi Samparna Acharya, M. Ajay Kumar, A. Sai Kiran, P. Venkatesh
Jagan’s College of Pharmacy, Jangalakandrika (V), Muthukur (M), SPSR Nellore (Dt), Andhra Pradesh- 524346.

Abstract
WHO (World Health Organisation) defines pharmacovigilance as science and activities relating to detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects/ adverse drug reactions or any other medicine related problem^[1] Pharmacovigilance is more than spontaneous reporting alone, and the evaluation of medicines is more than pharmacovigilance. Pharmacovigilance aims at the detection, assessment and prevention of adverse effects or of any other possible drug- related problems. The ultimate goal of pharmacovigilance is to foster the rational and safe use of medicines. Therefore, the post-marketing surveillance of drugs is important. Spontaneous ADR reporting, during post-marketing surveillance, has shown to detect adverse event signals resulting room drug use in the population. With this awareness, pharmacovigilance is instrumental in continuously monitoring unwanted effects and other safety aspects of drugs that are already in the market apart from being vigilant in pre marketing monitoring.
Keywords: Pharmacovigilance, WHO, ADR