WASHINGTON – In an effort to improve communication with doctors and patients on prescription drug safety, the government Friday began posting a list of medications under investigation for potential problems.
The first list is a bare-bones compilation naming 20 medications and the potential safety issue for each drug. But it provides no indication of how widespread or serious the problems might be. The listings will be updated for each calendar quarter.
“What's new here is that we are telling the public really at the earliest stage what we are working on,” said Dr. Gerald Dal Pan, head of the Food and Drug Administration's drug safety office. “I think the public told us, 'We want to know what you are working on.' And we are responding to that.”
Drugs will be placed on the list based on reports the FDA receives regularly from hospitals, doctors and patients. If FDA safety reviewers determine that a reported problem with a particular drug deserves a closer look, that medication will be on the list.
“Our hope is that this list will serve not only as a means of communication to the public, but that it will also serve to encourage (medical) providers to provide us with additional reports should they see similar kinds of adverse events with the drugs that are on the list,” said Dr. Paul Seligman, who is responsible for the FDA's safety communications.
Consumer advocates called the move a positive step, but there was no immediate reaction from the pharmaceutical industry.
Congress ordered the FDA to post the information under a drug safety bill that passed last year.
