New Research Resource: World Health Organization Launches Open Access to the WHO Global Medicines* Safety Database

The following database became available to the public on Friday, April 17, 2015.
From the World Health Organization:

Pharmacovigilance, or drug safety, is the primary method used to identify hazards associated with medicinal products and with minimizing the risk of any harm that may come to patients.
It is based on timely information sharing and transparency, so that noxious and unintended effects due to medicinal products, medication errors such as overdose, and misuse and abuse of medicines can be quickly addressed.
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VigiAccess is a new web application that will allow anyone to access information on reported cases of adverse events related to over 150 000 medicines and vaccines. More than ten million cases from over 120 countries are held in VigiBase , the WHO database of suspected adverse reaction reports maintained by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre in Sweden.
* The term ‘medicines’ refers to medicinal products, including vaccines

More From the VigiAccess Homepage:

This database allows you to browse and view data on suspected side-effects from various medicinal products (also known as suspected adverse drug reactions (“ADRs”)). All data contained herein is sourced from VigiBase, the World Health Organization’s  global database for ADRs, maintained by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre. The UMC is the WHO Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring based in Uppsala, Sweden providing scientific leadership and operative support to the WHO Program for International Drug Monitoring.
The data contains reports of suspected ADRs, so called Individual Case Safety Reports (ICSRs), collected by national drug authorities in over 110 countries and span over more than 100 000 different medicinal products. Thus, this database is only a repository of ICSRs provided for VigiBase, and shall not be considered as a systematic register of ADRs that have occurred or may occur.

Direct to VigiAccess Database
See Also: WHO Calls For Increased Transparency in Medical Research
Coverage and Additional Background
WHO Opens Its Database Of Medicines Side Effects To The Public (via Intellectual Property Watch)

Filed under: Data Files, Management and Leadership, Open Access, Public Libraries, Reports, Resources