Introduction

Pharmacoepidemiology is the study of the uses and effects of drugs in well-defined populations. To accomplish this study, pharmacoepidemiology borrows from both pharmacology and epidemiology. Thus, pharmacoepidemiology is the bridge between both pharmacology and epidemiology. Pharmacology is the study of the effect of drugs and clinical pharmacology is the study of effect of drugs on clinical humans.

Part of the task of clinical pharmacology is to provide a risk benefit assessment by effects of drugs in patients: doing the studies needed to provide an estimate of the probability of beneficial effects on populations or assessing the probability of adverse effects on populations. Pharmacoepidemiology is the study of the utilization and effects of drugs in large numbers of people; it provides an estimate of the probability of beneficial effects of a drug in a population and the probability of adverse effects. It can be called a bridge science spanning both clinical pharmacology and epidemiology.

Pharmacoepidemiology concentrates on clinical patient outcomes from therapeutics by using methods of clinical epidemiology and applying them to understanding the determinants of beneficial and adverse drug effects, effects of genetic variation on drug effect, duration-response relationships, clinical effects of drug-drug interactions, and the effects of medication non-adherence.

Pharmacovigilance use in pharmacoepidemiology

Pharmacovigilance is a part of pharmacoepidemiology that involves continual monitoring, in a population, for unwanted effects and other safety concerns arising in drugs that are already on the market. Pharmacoepidemiology sometimes also involves the conduct and evaluation of programmatic efforts to improve medication use on a population basis.

Pharmacovigilance, where the impact of a drug is monitored in populations using that particular product, is an integral aspect of pharmacoepidemiology. Organizations can track medicines for evidence of adverse events and safety issues as well as post-marketing activities. Similarly, having this long-term knowledge about a medicine and its impact can help scientists improve its use.

Reasons for carrying out pharmacoepidemiology

Post-marketing monitoring of a drug can help scientists discover the efficacy of the medicine as well as its toxicity. Cases of adverse events can be better tracked in the population through the use of pharmacoepidemiology. To generate an awareness of a drug’s efficacy, heterogeneous groups of patients that share a similar age, gender, and comorbidities must be analyzed.

Researchers also have the opportunity to study the outcomes of a medicine in comparison to others on the market for the same disease. Examining a drug’s use in the population can also reveal whether doctors are using the medicine for off-label treatments. With pharmacoepidemiology, scientists may also be able to deduce the impact of an overdose.

In addition to the health impact of a certain drug, economic details can be calculated for health bodies or governments. They can work out the cost per treatment day or the cost in relation to the patient’s income. Scientists can learn: the amount of cases of adverse events, how a medicine reacts with people who were not involved in previous studies and the impact of a medicine when combined with other drugs.

The Journal of “Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Research” is using Editorial Tracking System to maintain quality and transparency to the author in the peer-review process. Review processing will be performed by the editorial board members of the Journal of “Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Research” or by Reviewers (outside experts in the field). Two independent reviewer’s approval (Minimum reviewer’s approval) followed by editor approval is obligatory for acceptance of any manuscript excluding an editorial.

Regards

Mary Wilson

Editorial office

Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Research

E-mail: pharmatoxicol@eclinicalsci.com