Oviya MedSafe – Social Media, Pharmacovigilance & the UK Parliament
By admin Dear Well-wishers,
With Oviya MedSafe’s invariable zeal for our undaunted dedication to the discipline of Pharmacovigilance, I take this delightful opportunity to share with you Oviya MedSafe’s September 2015 newsletter!
There can be little disagreement on the statement that Social Media rule our lives today. The comfort of being able to instantaneously access multiple social networking portals and applications from our mobile telephones and tablet devices has indeed brought about a technology revolution amidst us over the past few years. With so many of us having already become social butterflies, it is natural that we are now quite open to sharing personal experiences, including unpleasant ones, on social sites as we would do amongst our real personal networks. This paradigm shift in our social behaviour comes as a boon to pharmacovigilance enthusiasts across the globe that are constantly in pursuit of identifying more efficient means of mining quality adverse drug experience data.
Although I am aware that much has been written about the role of social media in pharmacovigilance by several drug safety experts from different parts of the world, I accepted the invitation from Pharma Times, the official monthly newsmagazine and an indexed publication of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, to author an article titled “Social Media as a Catalyst in the Advancement of Pharmacovigilance“ for their ‘Pharmacovigilance Special Issue‘ that was published in August 2015. With inputs from my colleagues, I have tried to cover in this essay the key global regulations, notable initiatives, advantages, challenges and possible solutions that are pertinent to leveraging the power of social media for deriving pharmacovigilance insights. This article is also available for download from our ‘downloads’ page. Your feedback on the content and the presentation would be welcomed and appreciated.
While on the topic of social media and pharmacovigilance, it is relevant for me to invite you to the 6th Annual Pharmacovigilance Asia 2015 conference at Singapore, at which I will be speaking on “Exploiting Social Media to Identify Potential Safety Signals and to Augment Adverse Event Data Collection”. In the same conference, I will also be sharing my thoughts alongside my reputed co-panelists in the panel discussion “Overcoming Challenges in PV in Developing Asia”, from an Indian perspective. Further, my colleagues and I will be conducting a post-conference workshop titled “Case Narrative Writing for Reporting Adverse Events” at the conference. Please click here to download the complete agenda of the conference. Oviya MedSafe’s sessions in the conference have been aptly summarized on this page of the event website, which you may like to bookmark as a ready-reckoner.
At this juncture, I wish to link you to two complimentary whitepapers “Emerging Tools for Data Collection: Social Media and Mobile Applications for Detecting Adverse Drug Reactions“ and “Snapshot of Asia’s Pharmacovigilance Standards and Practices“ offered by the organizers of 6th Annual Pharmacovigilance Asia 2015. I hope all these motivate you to join us at Singapore for the event. Kindly click here to register for the conference.
Prior to this event at Singapore, my EU-based colleagues and I have planned a professional tour throughout the UK, starting with the PIPA Annual Conference 2015. Being a Chair of the UK Pharmacovigilance Day 2015 conference that is shaping up very well, I eagerly look forward to conducting the day’s proceedings and meeting my UK-based friends. Of special significance to me is the panel discussion on my favourite topic “Pharmacovigilance Outsourcing Trends, Predictions and Advantages – A SWOT Analysis“ which I would be moderating, with the renowned panelists being drawn from across the wide spectrum of stakeholders of pharmacovigilance outsourcing. As the seats for this conference are getting fast filled up, it would be advisable for the interested prospective delegates to register at the earliest by opting for any of the accepted methods of registration as detailed on this link.
I would like to conclude this long letter with the pleasant announcement that I have been invited to deliver a speech on “South India – An attractive and emerging global pharmaceutical hub”, at the UK South India Business Meet 2015, organized at the UK Parliament, London by the British South India Council of Commerce (BSICC) – a UK-based independent body that focuses on promoting trade and investment relations between UK and India, specifically South India. While this is a reflection of Oviya MedSafe’s well-recognized commitment and proficiency in the domain of pharmaceutical services, especially pharmacovigilance, it is my duty to thank the BSICC for showering this privilege on me. Obviously, my gratitude is always due to my colleagues at Oviya MedSafe whose enthusiastic teamwork has resulted in such laurels for the organization over the years.
Waiting to meet you through our October 2015 newsletter,
With thanks & regards,
Dr J Vijay Venkatraman
MBBS, F. Diab., MBA., FPIPA (UK)
Managing Director & CEO,
Oviya MedSafe
Pharmacovigilance Consulting & Drug Safety Services
Coimbatore, India & London, UK
India Office: +91-422-2444442
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