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A free smartphone app of the UK’s Yellow Card Scheme that allows health professionals, patients, carers and others to report and monitor adverse drug reactions was launched on 14 July 2015.
The app version of the scheme run by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) offers an alternative to the web-based and paper-based reporting systems.
App users will be able to select specific medicines or vaccines from the Yellow Card database and track any relevant news items or alerts. They will also be able to view the number of Yellow Card reports for any medicine they are interested in.
“Moving to a mobile app is a logical progression in this digital age, allowing us to build on the existing website to improve user engagement,” says group manager for the MHRA’s vigilance and risk management of medicines division Mick Foy.
Launching the app, life sciences minister George Freeman said the Yellow Card Scheme had played a vital role in medicines safety for 50 years. “By making the scheme accessible to researchers, healthcare professionals and millions of patients, it will not only improve the safety of reporting but ultimately better protect people’s health and support research in the NHS,” Freeman added.
The app was created in collaboration with the Innovative Medicines Initiative WEB-RADR project — a public-private partnership involving the European Commission, regulatory agencies and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (EFPIA).
The app is available from the iTunes store and GooglePlay.
