Adverse Drug Reactions (NLR) - an adverse reaction caused by the use of a drug or combination of drugs. Manifestations of NLR can range from a rash to respiratory failure, myocardial infarction and sudden death.

Each year in the UK, NLR causes at least 250,000 people to be hospitalized. The associated costs are around £ 500 million.

According to a study by British scientists led by Dr M. Pirmohamed in 2004, 4% of the total number of beds were hospitalized for NLR; at the same time, the annual costs of the National Health Organization amounted to £ 466 million. 2% of these hospitalizations were fatal.

According to the Chairman of the Scientific Council of the British Medical Association (BMA), Dr C. George, despite the fact that the drugs are tested in clinical trials before obtaining authorization for use, the possibility of developing an NLR in a patient is a very urgent problem.

In clinical trials, the number of patients included is limited; based on their results, all possible points regarding the safety of the drug use in a large population or the delayed reactions of this drug cannot be determined.

The use of drug combinations and their use in combination with alternative and herbal remedies, which include, for example, St. John's Wort, used in the treatment of mild depression, can also lead to the development of NLR.

Dr. V. Nathanson, head of the BMA's ethics and science committee, notes that, unfortunately, only 10% of NLRs are registered. Doctors may consider some NLRs to be known enough or too trivial to account for them; in addition, it may be difficult for physicians to link the NLR to the medication in each particular situation.

The number of clinical trials of drugs used in pediatrics is very low; the safety of the use of these drugs in children is poorly understood. Therapy for elderly patients includes more than one drug, which may result in a completely different response from this class of patients to treatment compared to younger patients. Therefore, the reports on NLR in these patient groups are extremely important.

The problem of collecting NLR data was reflected in the publication in May of this year of the manual "Reporting of adverse drug reactions". It examines in detail the existing UK methodology for reporting on NLR and other issues related to the safe use of medicines and the use of medical equipment; information on the advantages and disadvantages of structured and other NLR databases, etc.