The randomised clinical trial (RCT) has long been the gold standard in drug development but this tightly controlled environment provides a poor picture of how a new therapy will fare in the real world. So-called real-world evidence (RWE) may not…
Blog Archives
Unreliable Asthma Apps
An early study of first generation asthma diagnostic apps identified many were unvalidated, contained errors and offered therapeutic interventions that were not evidence based. Since those early days clinicians, policy groups and regulators have actively discussed the quality and safety…
Insulin dosing apps are unreliable and prone to error
A recent study led by the Global eHealth Unit at Imperial College London has found that the majority of insulin dosing apps are unreliable and put patients at risk of getting incorrect doses of insulin. Huckvale and colleagues found 46…
VirtualPV and BaseCon at the European DIA
VirtualPV and their partners BaseCon look forward to meeting you at this years European DIA conference being held in Paris between 13-15 April. Please visit our exhibition stand (Booth 3.D01) and let us show you the latest version of our…
Consumers want government oversight on health apps
Around 90 percent of young people think there should be some governmental regulation and oversight for digital health apps, according to a Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia survey of 3,000 consumers. Findings from this survey were presented at the mHealth Summit…
Patient safety protocols require a wearable!
A California hospital has begun requiring certain patients use a wearable remote patient monitoring device in order to comply with internal patient safety protocols. Chino Valley Medical Center is employing the Leaf Patient Monitoring System from Pleasanton-based Leaf Healthcare. The…
WEB-RADR – a 3 year wait for an app that’s already available
WEB-RADR is a three-year industry/regulator project which, amongst other things, will be looking to develop a mobile app for healthcare professionals and the public to report suspected ADRs to national EU regulators. BUT WHY WAIT 3+ years – a validated…
Using Twitter to study drug side effects
A recent study in Drug Safety demonstrated that patients are increasingly reporting their side effects via Twitter. Utilizing a semi-automated process to identify 23 drug products on Twitter, approximately 7 million tweets were assessed, with 60,000 evaluated, producing 4,400 identified.…
Posted in Patient Safety, Technology
MHRA leads social media drug safety initiative
The MHRA has announced that it is to lead European medicines regulators, academics and pharma in a three-year project to develop new ways of gathering drug safety information. Known as ‘WEB-RADR’, the project is in response to the rise in…
Pharma companies may soon have to tweet side effects
The FDA has proposed a new set of social media guidelines that will require drug companies to tweet their products’ side-effects to the world, reports The Wall Street Journal. Though still tentative, the proposal would make it so that all…