Dangerous Drug Reactions on the S&A iPhone App [abstract]

Abstract

The S&A drug database for handhelds, sold to dermatologists for 8 years, was uploaded as a new iPhone application (app), February 2010. Our program notes all warnings at the several FDA levels: boxed warnings, bold warnings, warnings, and adverse effects, reflecting greater interest in drug warnings by all parties, including consumers, regulators, industry. The FDA has a program called MedWatch, which collects reports of adverse drug reactions, including serious and fatal reactions. In 2007, The Institute for Safe Medical Practices (ISMP) published a list of the fifteen drugs most often reported as primary suspects for serious and fatal reactions in the FDA's MedWatch program for the eight years ending in December, 2005. Our iPhone app now notes all drugs which made this list. Using knowledge gained working with the ISMP during summer, 2009, S&A researchers, including 2 S&T seniors, are working with MedWatch data to revise and update the old fatal drug list. The new information will be placed on the S&A website and the iPhone app during Spring, 2010. The quarterly data will allow consumers to see how the fatality rates for different drugs are changing. In addition, the changes will allow S&A to look for a signal for specific reactions. The proportional reporting ratio (PRR) was used to search the MedWatch data from 2004-2008 and discover that ciprofloxacin was the leading primary suspect drug in deaths in elderly patients from severe skin reactions during the period 2004-2008.