The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have teamed up to create the Safety Reporting Portal*, a website where people can post the side effects they experience from medications. The site will collect information about side effects from all over the United States.  Doctors and patients can use this helpful information to for identifying potential side effects from defective drugs.

Who Can Use the Portal?

Anyone who has access to the Internet can use the information portal. Designers made the portal for medical professionals, but consumers can use it as well. The site asks for an email address so visitors can set up an account before reporting on a medication. An account allows users to save reports and complete them when it is convenient. Visitors can submit reports anonymously, but these users cannot save a report to complete later.

The law requires researchers, drug makers, and food manufacturers to provide information about possible side effects they discover with foods and medicines. This online portal gives them a fast, easy way to file mandatory reports, getting the information to the public more quickly.

Types of Reports Accepted

The new food and drug safety portal accepts several different kinds of reports. Visitors may report about unusual interactions with human or animal medications and foods. Anyone who experiences an unusual side effect from pet food or human food should report the problem through this portal. Medical professionals and researchers in these fields can also file reports about any new findings they discover while working with animal or human foods and drugs.

Plans for the Future

The NIH and FDA plan to add other reporting options to the information portal. They will create ways for researchers and manufacturers to make reports about a wider range of clinical trial results. The goal is to create a single website that accepts all forms of food and drug reports from consumers and professionals.

The site will eventually send these reports to all agencies that need to know about the problem. It will be the first time that agencies can use a single location for information that gives them all the same data from the same source. This should foster greater agreement among medical communities, food makers, and drug manufacturers while improving consumer safety.

Importance of Shared Information

When all agencies connected with keeping the public safe have the same safety information, it becomes difficult for defective drug manufacturers to refute or deny problems with their products. The information will be readily available to regulators, creating swifter action against drug companies who put profits ahead of patient safety.

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If you or someone you care about was injured by a defective drug, contact our office for a free legal consultation. Our licensed attorneys will guide you through your legal options.

*https://www.safetyreporting.hhs.gov

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