MediGuard.org, operated by iGuard Inc., monitors the safety of prescribed medicines, over-the-counter medicines and healthcare supplements. As of February 2011, there are over 2,480,000 registered users in the website. The company also rates the safety of different drugs using a standardized ratings scale, and has received support from advocacy groups concerned with drug adverse effects.Two Frontrunners for Drug Safety Prevention www.ismp.org, accessed 20 January 2009.
The iGuard company was founded in 2007 by Hugo Stephenson, MD. It is a subsidiary of Quintiles Transnational, a multinational contract research organization.iGuard Drug Safety Alert is Newest Reason Senior Citizens, Caregivers Must Use Web SeniorJournal.com, 9 October 2007, accessed 19 November 2007.
Criticism Qualitative risk rating systems, such as that used by MediGuard, have been criticized for potentially simplifying risk assessment requirements used to inform risk management decisions.
See also Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program COSTART - Coding Symbols for a Thesaurus of Adverse Reaction Terms Pharmacovigilance Yellow Card Scheme (UK)
References
External links MediGuard An Innovative System for Communicating Drug Risks to Patients