Drug Safety Matters
Episodes
#42 Unpacking the WHO Global Smart Pharmacovigilance Strategy – Shanthi Pal
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This special episode was recorded just before the 43rd Annual Meeting of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring wrapped up in Cairo, Egyp...
#41 How to use artificial intelligence in pharmacovigilance, part 2 – Niklas Norén
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Far from a future add-on, artificial intelligence is already embedded in the cycle of drug safety, from case processing to signal detection. Versatile...
#40 How to use artificial intelligence in pharmacovigilance, part 1 – Niklas Norén
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Far from a future add-on, artificial intelligence is already embedded in the cycle of drug safety, from case processing to signal detection. Versatile...
#39 Putting children first on Patient Safety Day – Angela Caro-Rojas
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Children deserve the safest possible healthcare, yet they remain one of the most vulnerable patient populations when it comes to medicines safety. Ahe...
#38 Patient perspectives in PV: a fireside chat at the ISoP mid-year symposium
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This special episode was recorded at the mid-year symposium of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance (ISoP), 14–15 May 2025. Held in Uppsal...
#37 Beyond numbers: quality in ADR reporting – Henry Zakumumpa
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Spontaneous adverse event reporting from healthcare professionals and patients is a cornerstone in pharmacovigilance systems. Unfortunately, it is a w...
#36 Pregnancy-related pharmacovigilance – Levente Pápai, Lovisa Sandberg & Sara Vidlin
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are many reasons why use of medical products during pregnancy requires special attention. First and foremost, we want to be sure that the medici...
#35 Veterinary pharmacovigilance, part 2 – James Mount
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Human and veterinary pharmacovigilance (PV) share many goals, challenges and approaches. But there are also significant differences, such as the numer...
#34 Veterinary pharmacovigilance, part 1 – James Mount
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Human and veterinary pharmacovigilance (PV) share many goals, challenges and approaches. But there are also significant differences, such as the numer...
#33 Narrative fields and signal assessors, an exploratory study – Joana Félix and Alem Zekarias
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While structured data elements such as patient identifier, medicine name and reaction, are fundamental for adverse event reporting, they may not captu...
#32 Pharmacovigilance in older adults – Giovanni Furlan
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Medication-related-harm (MRH) is especially prevalent in older adults due to changing physiology as the body ages, increased frailty, and the incidenc...
#31 A guide to reporting disproportionality analyses – Michele Fusaroli and Daniele Sartori
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Disproportionality analyses are a mainstay of pharmacovigilance research, but without clear guidelines, they often lead to confusion and misinterpreta...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Weeding out duplicates to better detect side effects
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Duplicate reports are a big problem when it comes to signal detection, but with the help of machine learning and new ways of comparing reports, we may...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Ensuring trust in AI/ML when used in pharmacovigilance
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ensuring trust in AI is vital to fully reap the benefits of the technology in pharmacovigilance. Yet, how do we do so while grappling with its ever-gr...
#30 Preventing and reporting medication errors – Rabat CC & UMC
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Look-alike medicines, unclear communication and distractions during administration – medication errors may occur for many different reasons. They al...
#29 When medicines change our behaviour – Michele Fusaroli
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Medicines can affect our personality in positive ways, but they may also lead to destructive behaviours that can damage our relationships, finances, a...
#28 Catching black swans – François Montastruc
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Serious and unexpected adverse drug reactions – the ‘black swans’ of pharmacovigilance – can place enormous strain on safety monitoring system...
#27 When drugs damage the liver – Rita Baião
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The liver is the primary site for drug metabolism in the body, but it can be severely damaged by medicines or their toxic compounds. Rita Baião from ...
#26 What's trending in pharmacovigilance? – Angela Caro-Rojas
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What did the drug safety community achieve in 2023 and how will the field develop in 2024? As the year comes to a close, we asked Angela Caro-Rojas, p...
#25 A week in the name of medicines safety – part 2
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To mark #MedSafetyWeek, which took place from 6–12 November, we’re releasing a special two-part episode on pharmacovigilance communication campaig...
#24 A week in the name of medicines safety – part 1
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To mark #MedSafetyWeek, which takes place from 6–12 November, we’re releasing a special two-part episode on pharmacovigilance communication campai...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – The colour of signals
29 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Herbal remedies have been used for thousands of years to treat what ails us. Yet why do we still know so little about their potential side effects com...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Empowering patients as partners
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A patient's perspective can ensure safe medical care and lead to new insights that traditional research may overlook. But how do we best harness ...
#23 Assessing safety in clinical trials – Marianne Lunzer & Sanja Prpić
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Medicines safety monitoring is a continuous process that begins with pre-marketing clinical trials and continues with post-marketing studies to fill a...
#22 Reforming pharmacovigilance education – Michael Reumerman
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Healthcare professionals are key players in medicines safety but they often lack the time or knowledge to report adverse drug reactions. To change tha...
#21 Unlocking the power of real-world data – Patrick Ryan
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The vast amount of real-world data collected during routine clinical care is a treasure trove of safety information – but there are challenges to ov...
#20 The evidence for signals – Daniele Sartori
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Spontaneous reports of adverse drug reactions are a common source of evidence in pharmacovigilance, but as the science evolves, so do the types of dat...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Unmasking data in the COVID-19 vaccine era
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most pharmacovigilance professionals will have heard of masking – a statistical issue where reports for one drug hide signals for other drugs. But t...
#19 Lessons in pandemic pharmacovigilance – Elena Rocca
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The COVID-19 pandemic forced pharmacovigilance experts to revisit their processes to deal with unprecedented volumes of data and catch unexpected safe...
#18 The IDMP standards explained – Malin Fladvad & Olle Lagerlund
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Identification of Medicinal Products (IDMP) standards promise to harmonise how pharmaceutical products and substances are described around the wor...
#17 Why we need vaccine surveillance systems – Madhava Balakrishnan
24 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Public trust in vaccines hinges on their safety – but to make sure vaccines are safe, we must have systems in place to detect and manage any side ef...
#16 How drug safety can help fight resistant bugs – Jean Marie Vianney Habarugira & Albert Figueras
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Managing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will require innovative solutions from many different disciplines. Could pharmacovigilance be one of them? Jea...
#15 Safety of HIV medications – Henry Zakumumpa
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With the right care, people infected with HIV can lead long and healthy lives. But as with any life-long medical treatment, it is important to acknowl...
#14 Advancing pharmacovigilance in Africa – Eleni Aklillu & Abbie Barry
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Access to medical products has increased considerably in Africa in recent years, but safety monitoring systems haven’t exactly kept pace and many Af...
#13 How to talk about risks – Alexandra Freeman
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
People’s perception of risk can vary greatly from person to person, making it challenging for healthcare professionals to communicate benefits and h...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Safety issues faced by refugee communities
27 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The loss of vital health records is a universal problem for refugees. When their medical information goes missing, patients are less likely to receive...
#12 Improving signal detection with vigiGroup – Jim Barrett & Joe Mitchell
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Statistical tools can not only cut through the noise in large pharmacovigilance databases. They can also help identify more clinically meaningful patt...
#11 Talking about vaccine safety – Anthony Cox & Daniel Salmon
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With vaccine hesitancy on the rise and misinformation spreading like wildfire on social media, drug safety specialists may have a hard time knowing ho...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – The KIDs List
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not always easy to choose the best medicine for a child. Some drugs are inappropriate for young patients, while others require special consider...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Convincing the vaccine hesitant
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fuelled by disinformation and an array of other cultural and economic factors, vaccine hesitancy is one of the greatest global health communication ch...
#10 Tailoring drug therapy to your genes – Qun-Ying Yue
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Genetic variation is one of the reasons people differ in their response to medicines. Understanding that variation can inform more refined choices of ...
#9 Keeping vaccines safe – Helena Sköld & Annette Rudolph
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With COVID-19 vaccinations rolling at full speed in many countries, there’s a lot of talk about vaccine safety monitoring. But what exactly does tha...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Substandard and falsified COVID-19 vaccines in the Americas
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While COVID-19 vaccinations are picking up speed in many wealthy countries, citizens of lower-income countries still face a long wait – and where ...
#8 How do we change behaviour around antimicrobial resistance?
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is not only a biological issue, but a complex social problem. As a consequence, changing the way patients, healthcare p...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Into the infodemic
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world, so did waves of viral misinformation. For pharmacovigilance manager Marco Tuccori, fighting the “i...
#7 The challenge of rare diseases – Christina Ström Möller
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
By definition, a rare disease is one that only affects a handful of people in the world. But with more than 300 million people collectively affected b...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Africa integral to evolution of pharmacogenomics research
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the cradle of modern humanity, the African continent is home to populations with high levels of genetic diversity. But while this diversity has imp...
#6 Intuition in pharmacovigilance – Eugene van Puijenbroek
17 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the age of evidence-based medicine, we may be tempted to dismiss intuition – the quick and automatic thought process we call “sixth sense” or...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Patient's advocate
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In November 2020, longstanding UMC director Marie Lindquist began her well-earned retirement, leaving the reins of the organisation to her successor H...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Vaccination errors risk harm and damage trust
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Medication errors with vaccines can harm individual patients, but when they also undermine trust in public health programmes, serious problems can rip...
#5 Restoring invisible and abandoned trials – Peter Doshi
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clinical trials are the “gold standard” of evidence-based medicine – the best way we have to test whether a drug is safe and effective before it...
#4 Communicating science through film – Matthew Barwick
27 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Communication and public outreach are an important part of a scientist’s job. But researchers often find it daunting to translate their expert knowl...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Found in space
06 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When reporting adverse reactions to drugs, people can choose from a plethora of different terms to describe their experience. But that makes it diffic...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – 10 critical steps for patient safety
16 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do we minimise the harm caused to patients by medicines and medical devices? In October 2019, a diverse, multi-stakeholder group met in Erice, Ita...
#3 Navigating the plant names jungle – Bob Allkin
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Herbal substances can be found in a number of pharmaceutical drugs, cosmetics and food supplements – so it's not surprising that using plant na...
#2 Why we should listen to patients – Linda Härmark
20 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As the end users of medicines, patients can provide first-hand information on side effects. The issues they report add a richness to our understanding...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Philosophy of science meets patient safety
13 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Most of us want healthcare to be both patient-centric and evidence-based. But are those two goals compatible? Can we tailor healthcare to our unique c...
Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Ending the pregnant pause
24 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Most women are prescribed some form of medication during their pregnancy. Yet we know very little about the safety of those medicines when they’re u...
#1 Fighting the fakes – Aline Plançon
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Fake medicines claim at least 200,000 lives every year, with the World Health Organization estimating that 1 in 10 medicines worldwide is now substand...