Recent documents and publications

WHO Pharmaceuticals Newsletter, No. 2 2013

The WHO Pharmaceuticals Newsletter provides you with the latest information on the safety of medicines and legal actions taken by regulatory authorities across the world. It also provides signals from the Uppsala Monitoring Centre's SIGNAL document.

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The benefits of responsible use of medicines.
Setting policies for better and cost-effective healthcare.
Ministers Summit, 3 October 2012, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Ministers Summit on The responsible use of medicines, setting policies for better and cost-effective healthcare was held on 3 October 2012 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The Report summarizes discussions, conclusions and recommendations from the Summit.

• Report

Improving quality for better treatment and greater access

Quality in medicines is one of the cornerstones of health care and has a major impact on access and cost. Medicines of good quality improve the chances of successful treatment for individual patients and promote better outcomes for public health in general...

• Advocacy booklet

Clinical Pharmacology: in Health Care, Teaching and Research

Clinical Pharmacology

This position paper regarding the roles of clinical pharmacology in health care, teaching and research was composed and edited by representatives of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS). It is an updated and edited version of a recent publication entitled “Clinical Pharmacology in Research, Teaching and Health Care- Considerations by IUPHAR, the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology”...

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A handbook for consumer reporting of ADRs was discussed and requested at the thirty-first meeting of the National Pharmacovigilance Centres held in Uppsala, Sweden from 20–23 October 2008, and the development of this publication has been incorporated into the aims of the Seventh Framework Programme of the Research Directorate of the European Commission and its project Monitoring Medicines...

• Safety monitoring of medicinal products: reporting system for the general public

The Pursuit of Responsible Use of Medicines: Sharing and Learning from Country Experiences

Technical Report prepared for the Ministers Summit on The benefits of responsible use of medicines: Setting policies for better and cost-effective health care

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WHO Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations

The Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations works towards clear, independent and practical standards and guidelines for the quality assurance of medicines. Standards are developed by the Committee through worldwide consultation and an international consensus-building process. ...

• TRS 970 - Forty-sixth report

A practical handbook on the pharmacovigilance of medicines used in the treatment of tuberculosis

Handbook...

Most of the medicines used to treat tuberculosis (TB) today have been on the market for several decades. Clinicians treating TB patients around the world know these medicines well, and are usually well aware of their associated adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The occurrence of these reactions is known to be frequent. The TB patient on treatment is taking more than one anti-TB medicine simultaneously and regimens last from many months to 2 years or more...

Guidelines for medicine donations

The 1st edition of the guidelines (then titled Guidelines for drug donations) was published in May 1996 and represented the consensus of WHO and a variety of international relief and development agencies. The 1st edition was based on several rounds of consultation with over 100 humanitarian organizations and individual experts. A thorough evaluation of the 1st edition formed the basis of the 2nd edition of the guidelines published in 1999. The 2nd edition received support from an expanded group which included nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in international development, umbrella organizations of the pharmaceutical industry, several United Nations agencies, and the World Bank. The 2nd edition has provided guidance on donation practice for the past 10 years and has been a source for national donation policy‐making...

• Guidelines for medicine donations