• Key national authorities, regulators, industry leaders and pharmacists met for the 10th year in a row to discuss how to improve patient access to safe medicines.
  • Key pharmacovigilance tools were reviewed based on risk to make optimal use of regulatory and industry resources.
  • Industry and Regulators advanced the opportunities that technology and social media offer to strengthen the pharmacovigilance system.

phv2017pr2National authorities, regulators, industry leaders and pharmacists gathered in London this week to discuss how to improve patient access to safe medicines with an effective pharmacovigilance policy. This 10th edition of our Medicines for Europe conference highlighted how, if steered appropriately, technology and social media could strengthen the pharmacovigilance system.

Participants also reviewed experience gained in the implementation of EU pharmacovigilance legislation and underlined the need to optimise the use of regulatory and industry resources by applying a risk based approach. The conference called for more efficient distribution of educational material to patients and healthcare professionals. Cooperation between Industry and regulators should ensure that changes to signal detection processes do not lead to unnecessary duplication of work on both sides.

Adrian van den Hoven, Medicines for Europe Director General commented: “10 years of close cooperation between industry and regulators has led to a vastly improved pharmacovigilance system for European patients and healthcare professionals. New IT tools now need to become a big part of our cooperation to build an even better system over the next decade”.