The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7259 p110
26 July 2003

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Researchers may soon see yellow card data

A review of the yellow card adverse drug reaction reporting scheme is to consider whether ADR data can be made available to researchers.

The review is being carried out by Dr Jeremy Metters, a former Department of Health deputy chief medical officer and currently Her Majesty's Inspector of Anatomy. It is in response to increasing requests for access to yellow card data which raise major issues in relation to public health.

Dr Metters said: "There are issues around the confidence of health professionals in the confidentiality of the scheme and how the data could be used to unlock the potential for so-called designer medicines."

Lord Warner, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, said: "Our aim it to maintain the capacity of the scheme to deliver public health benefits and prevent potential abuse of these important data in the future." The minister added that it is essential to decide in what form the data should be made available.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's director of medicine, Dr Richard Tiner, said that some data gathered under the yellow card scheme are of great value to the medicines developers. "At the same time, we understand that patient confidentiality is paramount, and this review will be wanting to look at how this can be maintained."

The findings and recommendations of the review will be published and sent out for consultation.