The relevance of Pharmacovigilance today

In 1848 Hannah Greener was administered Chloroform during the removal of an infected toenail and passed away during the procedure. While there are theories on how the chloroform affected her body, it is certain that Chloroform ultimately caused her death.

While the term was not created at this point in time, the event involving Greener in 1848 is known to be the first Pharmacovigilance case that started a path to the nationally regulated drug safety guidelines we have today. To understand what makes a drug safe, we have to understand how it reacts in various environments. This understanding can only be achieved through extensive documentation and monitoring of thousands of patients. These national guidelines have required manufacturers to spend more resources in monitoring their product’s safety profile.

Throughout the past 170 years, regulatory bodies have been adapting the standards for what is considered safe in medicine these days.

Current standards, and the data of many patients, have allowed modern science to safely provide the market with the highest variety of medicine products in history, while continually creating, testing, and reviewing safer products for the future. The greater potential and accompanied risk of today’s most powerful medicine is controlled through safe administration based on the collected data from patients previously exposed to such products.

Although Hanna Greener did not benefit from our advancements, she greatly contributed to the success of pharmacovigilance systems.

As the industry keeps growing, medicinal products are on the path to becoming safer than ever before so we can continue to support and meet the needs of the public.

Author: Ruben Ebert