Sharp rise in adverse drug reactions

From the Wall Street Journal article:

The number of serious drug side effects and deaths reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration more than doubled over an eight-year period, according to an analysis of adverse-drug events reported to the agency.

As part of the agency's so-called MedWatch reporting system, drug companies, health-care professionals and the public can file reports when they think a drug is connected to a side-effect or fatality. Drug companies are required to file such reports while they are voluntary for health-care professionals.

A study, published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at reports that are considered serious from 1998 to 2005. The study was conducted by researchers at the Institute for Safe Medication Practices in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., and Wake-Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.

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