Working together to improve pharmacovigilance through new technology

The WEB-RADR 1 project, launched in September 2014, sought to utilise the powers of social media and new technologies for pharmacovigilance purposes. The project developed mobile applications (apps) enabling patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals to report adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and receive up-to-date information and news alerts. These country-specific mobile apps were launched in the United Kingdom (MHRA), Netherlands (Lareb) and Croatia (Halmed).

Through collaboration between the WEB-RADR project, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the WHO Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring, the Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC), and the MHRA, a generic mutli-country version of the app, the Med Safety app, is available for wider adoption. The Med Safety app has been launched in Burkina Faso, Zambia, Armenia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire and Uganda. For more information click here to be directed to the Med Safety apps page. There are many other exciting WEB-RADR 1 project outputs and publications which be found on the WEB-RADR 1 Outputs page.

The WEB-RADR 2 project, launched in September 2018, seeks to exploit the outputs of WEB-RADR 1. Over the project, the mobile app has been enhanced and a Vigilance Hub has been created to manage the back-end system. There is now the ability to embed WEB-RADR functionality into systems, applications and websites by use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Another key arm of WEB-RADR 2 is the bi-directional mapping of SNOMED CT and MedDRA terminologies. This work has been led by SNOMED International and MedDRA MSSO (ICH). Connectivity protocols with electronic healthcare record (EHR) databases have also been explored within United Kingdom and Danish settings, such that ADRs and regulatory information can be made available in the care record.