Pfizer launches medicine safety web site

Global pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer has launched what it calls a "new interactive educational resource designed to give health care professionals, medical students, patients, patient advocates and the general public more information about medicine safety." The USA-headquartered firm argues that this will, in turn, give people more confidence when considering when to take a drug.

Peter Pitts, president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, a US think-tank, noted that a 2007 Harris opinion poll found that "more than one third of Americans surveyed decided not to take a prescribed medicine because of safety concerns about risks and more than a quarter decided not to fill a prescription at all over safety concerns." A particular example is in the area of antidepressants, where fears over a rare side effect can contribute to a rise in suicides when physicians cut back on prescribing and patients reduce their treatment compliance.

The Pfizer web site (www.pfizer.com/medicinesafety) contains videos and interactive tools to help patients understand the issues surrounding risk and what questions to raise with a physician and how to read a medicine label.