RGA 6212 Using Social Media for Adverse Drug Reactions Essay

We have discussed the vital role that spontaneous reporting plays in post-market/post-approval pharmacovigilance. Patient (consumer) and health care provider (HCP) reporting of potential adverse drug reactions and the subsequent medical adjudication and data-basing of this information into systems such as FDA’s FAERS and UMC’s Vigibase databases forms the backbone of how we continue to develop the safety profile and benefit: risk profile of approved drugs/biologics.

A unique part of the world we live in today is the ubiquity of social media. Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. We have so many tools at our fingertips for expressing our opinions to a large audience. And naturally, social media has become a platform for people to share their experiences with approved drugs/biologics.

Spend some time looking into the role that social media might play in serving as a platform for people to informally report on potential adverse drug reactions. See the following to get you started:

1. MedSafety Week: https://www.who.int/medicines/news/2019/medicines-safety-week/en/

2. “Using Facebook to Increase Spontaneous Reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions” See Week 11 “Assignments” tab for link to PDF

Share your thoughts on how you think social media might be used to help identify adverse drug reactions. What are the pros and cons of this type of approach? How might we get the social media ADRs transferred to databases like FAERS and VigiBase?

There are MANY possible ways to respond to this post. Given what you have learned about pharmacovigilance in this course so far, be creative and think of ways that social media might help and/or hurt spontaneous reporting/global introspection.

Expert Solution Preview

Introduction:
The role of social media in pharmacovigilance is an interesting topic that has caught the attention of medical professionals. The increasing trend of social media has made it possible for people to share their experiences with approved drugs/biologics informally. This has led to the question of whether social media can serve as a platform for people to report their potential adverse drug reactions and how this can help in the identification of ADRs. In this answer, we will explore the pros and cons of using social media in identifying ADRs and suggest ways in which social media ADRs can be transferred to databases like FAERS and VigiBase.

Answer:
Social media can be an effective tool for identifying potential adverse drug reactions. Social media platforms provide a vast amount of data that can be used to identify ADRs. Patients can easily share their experiences with approved drugs/biologics informally on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This makes it possible for a large number of people to report potential ADRs to a wider audience. The use of social media can, therefore, provide a useful source of information that complements other ADR reporting mechanisms.

Using social media for ADR identification, however, comes with its own set of pros and cons. On the one hand, social media provides a vast amount of data that can be used to identify potential ADRs. This can be especially helpful in cases where traditional reporting mechanisms fail to detect ADRs. On the other hand, the use of social media for ADR identification is not without its limitations. For one thing, the quality of information shared on social media is not always reliable or relevant. The information shared could be biased, incomplete, or misleading. Additionally, it can be challenging to identify and filter through the vast amount of data available on social media platforms to detect potential ADRs.

To get social media ADRs transferred to databases like FAERS and VigiBase, pharmacovigilance professionals can leverage technology to automate the data-parsing process. Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms can be used to identify relevant information on social media platforms and filter out irrelevant information automatically. Also, Social media platforms could embed the option to report ADRs easily. With this option, Patients or Healthcare providers could report any suspected ADRs encountered while on therapy. The reports would be followed up by health regulatory agencies, thereby improving the identification of ADRs.

Conclusion:
Social media can be an effective tool for identifying ADRs, but it is not a replacement for traditional ADR reporting mechanisms. The use of social media comes with its set of pros and cons, and the quality of information shared on social media is not always reliable. Pharmacovigilance professionals can use technology to get social media ADRs transferred to databases like FAERS and VigiBase and automate the data-parsing process for efficient identification of ADRs.

Share This Post

Email
WhatsApp
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Reddit

Order a Similar Paper and get 15% Discount on your First Order

Related Questions