Chinese Journal of Pharmacovigilance ›› 2024, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (7): 836-840.
DOI: 10.19803/j.1672-8629.20240373

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Methods for signal management using the global safety database VigiBase

HJELMSTRÖM Peter, BOWRING Geoffrey, YUE Qun-Ying, NORÉN G. Niklas   

  1. Uppsala Monitoring Centre, Uppsala, Sweden
  • Received:2024-05-31 Online:2024-07-15 Published:2024-07-31
  • About author:Peter Hjelmström, Academic background: MD, PhD and Associate Professor from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University, New Haven, USA. Employment history: Previous recent positions includes Director/CEO of Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC), Uppsala, Sweden (2023-Now); Chief Medical Officer of Camurus AB, Lund, Sweden (2016-2023). Past history of working 17 years in the pharmaceutical industry at different companies.

Abstract: The WHO database of adverse event reports for medicines and vaccines, VigiBase, has been developed and maintained by UMC since 1978. VigiBase now holds over 39 million anonymised reports of suspected adverse effects of medicines and vaccines suffered by patients (as of June 2024). To support of members of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring (WHO PIDM) in developing, implementing, and strengthening safety surveillance programmes, UMC has developed several systems, tools and methods to facilitate the use of VigiBase. This paper describes six such vigi Methods; vigiGrade, vigiMatch, vigiRank, vigiPoint, vigiGroup, vigiVec. VigiBase depends on unsolicited reporting of adverse drug effects and, regretfully, underreporting of adverse drug effects continues to be a major issue. Artificial intelligence methods for augmentation to increase efficiency, quality, and capability of case processing in the large databases such as VigiBase are evolving to meet the higher demands to manage the increasing volume of safety data. Continued development of existing and new methods to translate the information in the reports in VigiBase and other databases into valuable knowledge will be paramount for safer use of medicines and vaccines for patients in all countries globally.

Key words: VigiBase, WHO, global, adverse drug reactions, signal, safety, database, management, methods

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