Terminologies of adverse medication related events , Regulatory terminologies.
1. Dr. K. R. V. S. Chaitanya
M. Pharm., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Glossary of Drug Safety Terms
2. TERM DESCRIPTION
Adverse event (AE)
(largely considered
synonymous with
adverse experience)
Any untoward medical occurrence in a patient or clinical investigation subject administered a
pharmaceutical product and which does not necessarily have to have a causal relationship with
this treatment. An adverse event (AE) can therefore be any unfavourable and unintended sign
(including an abnormal laboratory finding, for example), symptom, or disease temporally
associated with the use of a medicinal product, whether or not considered related to the
medicinal product
Adverse event of
special interest
(AESI)
A noteworthy event for the particular product or class of products that a sponsor may wish to
monitor carefully. It could be serious or non-serious (e.g. hair loss, loss of taste, impotence),
and could include events that might be potential precursors or prodromes for more serious
medical conditions in susceptible individuals. Such events should be described in protocols or
protocol amendments, and instructions provided for investigators as to how and when they
should be reported to the sponsor.
Adverse drug
reaction (ADR)
(largely considered
synonymous with
adverse drug effect,
though see Aronson
2013 for reflections
on this
In the pre-approval clinical experience with a new medicinal product or its new usages,
particularly as the therapeutic dose(s) may not be established: all noxious and unintended
responses to a medicinal product related to any dose should be considered adverse drug
reactions. The phrase "responses to a medicinal product" means that a causal relationship
between a medicinal product and an adverse event is at least a reasonable possibility, i.e., the
relationship cannot be ruled out. Regarding marketed medicinal products, a well-accepted
definition of an adverse drug reaction in the post-marketing setting is found in WHO Technical
Report 498 [1972] and reads as follows: A response to a drug which is noxious and unintended
and which occurs at doses normally used in man for prophylaxis, diagnosis, or therapy of
disease or for modification of physiological function. The old term "side effect" has been used
in various ways in the past, usually to describe negative (unfavourable) effects, but also
positive (favourable) effects. It is recommended that this term no longer be used and
particularly should not be regarded as synonymous with adverse event or adverse reaction.
3. Benefit-risk analysis
Examination of the favourable (beneficial) and unfavourable results of undertaking a specific
course of action. (While this phrase is still commonly used, the more logical pairings of
benefit-harm and effectiveness-risk are slowly replacing it).
Case control studies
Studies that compare cases with a disease to controls without the disease, looking for
differences in antecedent exposures.
Case reports
Reports of the experience of single patients. As used in pharmacoepidemiology, a case report
describes a single patient who was exposed to a drug and experiences a particular outcome,
usually an adverse event.
Case series
Reports of collections of patients, all of whom have a common exposure, examining what their
clinical outcomes were. Alternatively, case series can be reports of patients who have a
common disease, examining what their antecedent exposures were. No control group is
present.
Causality assessment Method for assigning probability of causation to a suspected adverse drug reaction.
Clinical development
programme
This refers to all clinical trials being conducted with the same investigational drug, regardless
of indication or formulation.
Clinical trial/study
Any investigation in human subjects intended to discover or verify the clinical,
pharmacological and/or other pharmacodynamics effects of an investigational product(s),
and/or to identify any adverse reactions to an investigational product(s), and/or to study
absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of an investigational product(s) with the
object of ascertaining its safety and/or efficacy. The terms clinical trial and clinical study are
synonymous.
4. Cohort studies
Studies that identify defined populations and follow them forward in time, examining
their rates of disease. Cohort studies generally identify and compare exposed patients
to unexposed patients or to patients who receive a different exposure.
Company core
safety information
(CCSI)
For medicinal products, all relevant safety information contained in the company core
data sheet prepared by the marketing authorisation holder and which the marketing
authorisation holder requires to be listed in all countries where the company markets
the product, except when the local regulatory authority specifically requires a
modification.
Company core data
sheet (CCDS)
For medicinal products, a document prepared by the marketing authorisation holder
containing, in addition to safety information, material related to indications, dosing,
pharmacology and other information concerning the product.
Cross-sectional
studies
These examine exposures and outcomes in populations at one point in time; they have
no time sense.
Data Monitoring
Committee
(synonyms:
Independent Data
Monitoring
Committee, Data
and Safety
Monitoring Board)
An independent data monitoring committee that may be established by the sponsor to
assess at intervals the progress of a clinical trial, the safety data, and the critical
efficacy endpoints, and to recommend to the sponsor whether to continue, modify, or
stop a trial.
5. Descriptive studies
Studies that do not have control groups, namely case reports, case series, and analyses of
secular trends. They contrast with analytic studies.
Development core
safety information
(DCSI)
An independent section of an Investigator's Brochure (IB) identical in structure to the
Company Core Safety Information (CCSI) that contains a summary of all relevant safety
information that is described in more detail within the main body of the IB. It is the
reference safety document that determines whether an adverse drug reaction is listed or
unlisted.
Development
pharmacovigilance
and risk
management plan
A plan to conduct activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding, reporting
and prevention of adverse effects of medicines during clinical trials. This plan should be
initiated early and modified as necessary throughout the development process for a new
drug or drug-use.
Development safety
update report
(DSUR)
A periodic summary of safety information for regulators, including any changes in the
benefit-risk relationship, for a drug, biologic or vaccine under development, prepared by the
sponsor of all its clinical trials.
Format and content for periodic reporting on drugs under development.
Drug utilization
research
The marketing, distribution, prescription and use of drugs in a society, with special
emphasis on the resulting medical, social, and economic consequences.
Ecological studies
These examine trends in disease events over time or across different geographic locations
and correlate them with trends in putative exposures, such as rates of drug utilisation. The
unit of observation is a subgroup or a population rather than individuals.
6. Expected adverse
drug reaction
One for which its nature or severity is consistent with that included in the appropriate
reference safety information (e.g. Investigator's brochure for an unapproved
investigational product or package insert/summary of product characteristics for an
approved product).
Good clinical
practice (GCP)
A standard for the design, conduct, performance, monitoring, auditing, recording,
analyses, and reporting of clinical trials that provides assurance that the data and
reported results are credible and accurate, and that the rights, integrity, and
confidentiality of trial subjects are protected.
Good
pharmacovigilance
practice
A set of guidelines for the conduct of pharmacovigilance in the EU, drawn up based
on Article 108a of Directive 2001/83/EC, by the European Medicines Agency in
cooperation with competent authorities in Member States and interested parties, and
applying to marketing authorisation holders in the EU, the Agency and competent
authorities in Member States.
Harm (synonymous
with adverse drug
reaction)
The totality of possible adverse consequences of an intervention or therapy; they are
the direct opposite of benefits, against which they must be compared.
Damage qualified by measures of frequency of occurrence, severity or duration.
The nature and extent of actual damage that could be caused by a drug. Not to be
confused with risk.
Hazard
The inherent capability of an intervention to cause harm (and a hazard as a potential
source of harm).
7. Important identified
risk, important
potential risk
An identified risk or potential risk that could impact on the risk-benefit profile of the
product or have implications for public health. What constitutes an important risk will
depend upon several factors, including the impact on the individual, the seriousness of the
risk, and the impact on public health. Normally, any risk that is likely to be included in the
contraindications or warnings and precautions section of the product labelling should be
considered important.
Individual case
safety report (ICSR);
synonym: Adverse
(drug) reaction
report
Format and content for the reporting of one or several suspected adverse reactions to a
medicinal product that occur in a single patient at a specific point of time.
Identified risk
An untoward occurrence for which there is adequate evidence of an association with the
medicinal product of interest. Examples of identified risks include: an adverse reaction
adequately demonstrated in nonclinical studies and confirmed by clinical data; an adverse
reaction observed in well-designed clinical trials or epidemiological studies for which the
magnitude of the difference compared with the comparator group (placebo or active
substance) on a parameter of interest suggests a causal relationship; and an adverse reaction
suggested by a number of well documented spontaneous reports where causality is strongly
supported by temporal relationship and biological plausibility, such as anaphylactic
reactions or application site reactions.
Investigator
brochure (IB)
A compilation of the clinical and nonclinical data on the investigational product(s) that is
relevant to the study of the investigational product(s) in human subjects.
Investigational
product
A pharmaceutical form of an active ingredient or placebo being tested or used as a reference
in a clinical trials, including a product with a marketing authorization when used or
assembled (formulated or packaged) in a way different form the approved form, or when
used for an unapproved indication, or when used to gain further information about an
approved use.
8. Labelled or
unlabelled
For a product with an approved marketing application, any reaction which is not
mentioned in the official product information is unlabelled. If it is included it is
termed labelled.
Medication errors
Any mistake in the medication use process, including prescribing, transcribing,
dispensing, administering, and monitoring.
Minimum criteria
for reporting
For the purpose of reporting cases of suspected adverse reactions, the minimum
data elements for a case are: an identifiable reporter, an identifiable patient, an
adverse reaction and a suspect medicinal product.
Missing
information
Gaps in knowledge about a medicinal product, related to safety or use in
particular patient populations, which could be clinically significant.
Near-misses
Medication errors that have high potential for causing harm but did not, either
because they were intercepted prior to reaching a patient, or because the error
reached the patient who fortuitously did not have any observable untoward
sequalae.
Number needed to
harm (NNH)
The number of individuals needed to be treated for some specified period of
time in order that one person out of those treated would have one harmful event
(during some specified time period).
Observational
study
A study where the investigator does not control the therapy, but observes and
evaluates the results of ongoing medical care.
9. Periodic safety
update report
(PSUR)
Format and content for providing an evaluation of the risk-benefit balance of a
medicinal product for submission by the marketing authorisation holder at
defined time points during the post-authorisation phase.
Pharmacoepidemiol
ogy
The study of the use and the effects of drugs in large numbers of people.
Pharmacovigilance
The science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and
prevention of adverse effects or any other drug related problem
In line with this general definition, underlying objectives of pharmacovigilance in
accordance with the applicable EU legislation for are: preventing harm from
adverse reactions in humans arising from the use of authorised medicinal
products within or outside the terms of marketing authorisation or from
occupational exposure; and promoting the safe and effective use of medicinal
products, in particular through providing timely information about the safety of
medicinal products to patients, healthcare professionals and the public.
Pharmacovigilance is therefore an activity contributing to the protection of
patients’ and public health
Pharmacovigilance
system
A system used by an organisation to fulfil its legal tasks and responsibilities in
relation to pharmacovigilance and designed to monitor the safety of authorised
medicinal products and detect any change to their risk-benefit balance.
Post-authorisation
safety study (PASS)
Any study relating to an authorised medicinal product conducted with the aim of
identifying, characterising or quantifying a safety hazard, confirming the safety
profile of the medicinal product, or of measuring the effectiveness of risk
management measures.
Postmarketing
surveillance
The study of drug use and drug effects after release onto the market.
10. Potential risk
An untoward occurrence for which there is some basis for suspicion of an
association with the medicinal product of interest but where this association has not
been confirmed. Examples of potential risks include: non-clinical safety concerns
that have not been observed or resolved in clinical studies; adverse events observed
in clinical trials or epidemiological studies for which the magnitude of the
difference, compared with the comparator group (placebo or active substance, or
unexposed group)
Randomised
controlled trial
(RCT)
A study where the investigator randomly assigns patients to different therapies/study
arms.
Reference Safety
Information (RSI)
In periodic benefit-risk evaluation reports for medicinal products, all relevant safety
information contained in the reference product information (e.g. the company core
data sheet) prepared by the marketing authorisation holder and which the marketing
authorisation holder requires to be listed in all countries where it markets the
product, except when the local regulatory authority specifically requires a
modification.
Registry
A list of patients presenting with the same characteristic(s). This characteristic can
be a disease (disease registry) or a specific exposure (drug registry). Both types of
registries, which only differ by the type of patient data of interest, can collect a
battery of information using standardised questionnaires in a prospective fashion.
Exposure (drug) registries collect information over time on populations exposed to
drugs of interest and/or specific populations.
Risk
The probability that something will happen.
The probability of developing an outcome. Note 1: the term ‘risk’ normally, but not
always, refers to a negative outcome. Note 2: contrary to harm, the concept of risk
does not involve severity of an outcome.
11. Risk-benefit
balance
An evaluation of the positive therapeutic effects of the medicinal product in relation to
the risks, i.e. any risk relating to the quality, safety or efficacy of the medicinal product
as regards patients’ health or public health.
Risk management
The overall aim of risk management is to ensure that the benefits of a particular
medicinal product (or a series of medicinal products) exceed the risks by the greatest
achievable margin for the individual patient and for the target population as a whole.
This can be done either by increasing the benefits or by reducing the risks. Risk
management has three stages which are inter-related and re-iterative
Risk management
plan
A detailed description of the risk management system. To this end, it must identify or
characterise the safety profile of the medicinal product(s) concerned, indicate how to
characterise further the safety profile of the medicinal product(s) concerned, document
measures to prevent or minimise the risks associated with the medicinal product,
including an assessment of the effectiveness of those interventions and document post-
authorisation obligations
Risk management
system
A set of pharmacovigilance activities and interventions designed to identify,
characterise, prevent or minimise risks relating to medicinal products including the
assessment of the effectiveness of those activities and interventions.
Risk minimisation
activity (used
synonymously with
risk minimisation
measure)
An intervention intended to prevent or reduce the probability of the occurrence of an
adverse reaction associated with the exposure to a medicine, or to reduce its severity
should it occur. These activities may consist of routine risk minimisation (e.g. product
information) or additional risk minimisation activities (e.g. healthcare professional or
patient communications/educational materials).
12. Safety
Substantive evidence of an absence of harm. The term is often misused when
there is simply absence of evidence of harm.
A judgement about safety is a personal and/or social judgement about the degree
to which a given risk is acceptable.
Safety concern
An important identified risk, important potential risk or missing information. It is
noted that the ICH definition of safety concern is: an important identified risk,
important potential risk or important missing information, i.e. includes the
qualifier “important” in relation to missing information (see Annex IV, ICH-
E2C(R2) Guideline). The ICH-E2E Guideline (see Annex IV) uses the terms
safety issue and safety concern interchangeably with the same definition for
safety concern as defined in the ICH-E2C(R2) Guideline.
Safety
specification
Part of a Risk Management Plan (RMP) that provides a synopsis of the safety
profile of the medicinal product(s) and should include what is known and not
known about the medicinal product(s). It should be a summary of the important
identified risks of a medicinal product, important potential risks, and missing
information.
Serious adverse
event (SAE)
Any untoward medical occurrence that at any dose, results in death, is life-
threatening (NOTE: The term “life-threatening” in the definition of “serious”
refers to an event/reaction in which the patient was at risk of death at the time of
the event/reaction; it does not refer to an event/reaction which hypothetically
might have caused death if it were more severe), requires inpatient hospitalization
or prolongation of existing hospitalization, results in persistent or significant
disability/incapacity, or is a congenital anomaly/birth defect.
13. Side effect
Any unintended effect of a pharmaceutical product occurring at normal dosage
which is related to the pharmacological properties of the drug.
Signal
Information that arises from one or multiple sources (including observations and
experiments), that suggests a new potentially causal association, or a new aspect
of a known association, between an intervention and an event or set of related
events, either adverse or beneficial, that is judged to be of sufficient likelihood to
justify further action to verify.
Signal
management
process
Includes the following activities: signal detection, signal validation, signal
confirmation, signal analysis and prioritisation, signal assessment and
recommendation for action. It therefore is a set of activities performed to
determine whether, based on an examination of individual case safety reports
(ICSRs)
Signal validation
Process of evaluating the data supporting a detected signal in order to verify that
the available documentation contains sufficient evidence demonstrating the
existence of a new potentially causal association, or a new aspect of a known
association, and therefore justifies further analysis of the signal.
Solicited reports
Those derived from organized data collection systems, which include clinical
trials, registries, post-approval named patient use programs, other patient support
and disease management programs, surveys of patients or healthcare providers, or
information gathering on efficacy or patient compliance.
Sponsor
An individual, company, institution, or organisation which takes responsibility for
the initiation, management, and/or financing of a clinical trial.
14. Spontaneous report or
spontaneous notification
An unsolicited communication to a company, regulatory authority, or
other organization that describes an adverse drug reaction in a patient
given one or more medicinal products and which does not derive
from a study or any organized data collection scheme.
Stimulated reporting
Can occur in certain situations, such as after a direct healthcare
professional communication (DHPC), a publication in the press or
questioning of healthcare professionals by company representatives,
and adverse reaction reports
Summary of product
characteristics (SmPC or
SPC)
Part of the marketing authorisation of a medicinal product setting out
the agreed position of the product as distilled during the course of the
assessment process which includes the information described in
Article 11 of Directive 2001/83/EC.
Suspected unexpected
serious adverse reaction
(SUSAR)
A reaction which is both unexpected and serious in nature.
Target population
(treatment)
The patients who might be treated with the medicinal product in
accordance with the indication(s) and contraindications in the
authorised product information.
Target population
(vaccine); synonym:
Vaccine target population
Persons who might be vaccinated in accordance with the indication(s)
and contraindications in the authorised product information and
official recommendations for vaccinations.
15. Tolerability
The degree to which overt adverse effects can be tolerated by the subject
NB we can find few references for this term - advice would be appreciated to
improve the glossary
Type A adverse
drug reaction
(augmented)
A dose-related reaction; features of which are that they are common, related to a
pharmacological action of the drug, predictable and with low mortality.
Type B adverse
drug reaction
(bizarre)
A non-dose-related reaction; features of which are that they are uncommon, not
related to a pharmacological action of the drug, unpredictable and with high
mortality.
Type C adverse
drug reaction
(chronic)
A dose- and time-related reaction; features of which are that they are uncommon
and related to the cumulative dose
Type D adverse
drug reaction
(delayed)
A time-related reaction; features of which are that they are uncommon, usually
dose-related and they occur or become apparent sometime after the use of the
drug.
Type E adverse
drug reaction (end
of use)
A withdrawal reaction; features of which are that they are uncommon and occur
soon after withdrawal of the drug.
Type F adverse
drug reaction
(failure)
A unexpected failure of therapy reaction; features of which are that they are
common, dose-related and often caused by drug interactions.
16. Unexpected
adverse drug
reaction
An adverse reaction, the nature or severity of which is not consistent with
the applicable product information (e.g., Investigator's Brochure for an
unapproved investigational medicinal product).
An adverse drug reaction whose nature, severity, specificity, or outcome is
not consistent with the term or description used in the local/regional
product labeling (e.g. Package Insert or Summary of Product
Characteristics) should be considered unexpected.
Validated signal
A signal where the signal validation process of evaluating the data
supporting the detected signal has verified that the available documentation
contains sufficient evidence demonstrating the existence of a new
potentially causal association, or a new aspect of a known association, and
therefore justifies further analysis of the signal.