Drug Safety

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics

See, Play and Learn

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Research

• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

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Summary

In the U.S., the government's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must approve any drug before it can be sold. This is true whether it's a prescription or an over-the-counter drug. The FDA evaluates the safety of a drug by looking at

• Side effects
• How it's manufactured
• Results of animal testing and clinical trials

The FDA also monitors a drug's safety after approval.

For you, drug safety means buying online from only legitimate pharmacies and taking your medicines correctly.

Start Here

• Buying and Using Medicine Safely (Food and Drug Administration)

Related Issues

• Drug Development Process (Food and Drug Administration)
• Is It Really FDA Approved? (Food and Drug Administration)
• MedWatch, the FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program (Food and Drug Administration)
• Postmarket Drug Safety Information for Patients and Providers (Food and Drug Administration)
• Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts (Food and Drug Administration)

Specifics

• Generic Drugs: Questions and Answers (Food and Drug Administration) Also in Spanish
• Quick Tips for Buying Medicines Over the Internet (Food and Drug Administration) Also in Spanish

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Monitoring, reporting and regulating medicine quality: tensions between theory and practice...
• Article: Falsified Drugs in the Opinion of Patients Diagnosed with Cardiovascular Diseases-Nationwide...
• Article: Association between legalization of recreational cannabis and fatal motor vehicle collisions...
• Drug Safety -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Food and Drug Administration
• Institute for Safe Medication Practices
• SafeMedication.com (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists)