MHRA launches new pharmacovigilance reporting platform for COVID-19 treatments

A new online reporting site has been launched by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) to track potential side-effects arising from the use of any therapies used to treat COVID-19, in a bid to build a knowledge base around safe treatment of the pandemic disease.

The Yellow Card COVID-19 reporting site is designed to streamline reporting of adverse events for patients, carers and healthcare professionals and provide an essential pharmacovigilance resource in anticipation of a wave of potential therapies for the virus becoming available in the coming months.

The platform aims to identify potential risks in developed treatments, vaccines, diagnostics or medical devices, including when used off-label, which may emerge as treatments efforts are scaled up worldwide, with the MHRA then using this growing resource to take regulatory action, where appropriate. This includes new information not previously known on medicines to manage long-term pre-existing conditions which may interact with potential COVID-19 therapies.

“While our aim is to ensure that potentially lifesaving COVID-19 treatments and medical equipment reach patients as quickly as possible, patient safety is our highest priority,” explained Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive. “I encourage healthcare professionals and patients to use our new dedicated site to report problems with medical equipment, including ventilators or testing kits, as well as any suspected side effects from medicines used to combat COVID-19.”

Matt Fellows