FDA announces contracts for adverse events database

On Friday the Food and Drug Administration announced contracts for its adverse event monitoring database, a key to the agency's plan for monitoring drug safety in the future. The FDA will use the technology to look for possible signs that a particular drug may be experiencing problems. The four organizations selected to participate in the project are Vanderbilt University, Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Ingenix and Kaiser Foundation Research Institute. Of course, since the Vioxx withdrawal the FDA has been under intense pressure to improve its monitoring of approved drugs on the market.

- see this press release from the FDA