Drug List

FDA Medwatch Program and Adverse Events

Not all side effects show up in clinical trials and in some cases it has even been discovered that side effects that have shown up it trials have been underreported or hidden entirely.  However, once a prescription drug has been on the market for some time and has been taken by many more people side effects and problems can sometimes become evident.   

The FDA’s Medwatch Adverse Events Reporting Program provides a place where these side effects and problems can be reported.  Although obvious problems with this system do exist, it is at least, a database where these are collected. 

As you will see when looking through the adverse events connected with various drugs the same or similar “event” can be listed in several different ways.  For instance if a patient or other non-medical person is reporting a charp pain in the chest they will likely call it just that, “a sharp pain in the chest”.  A doctor or nurse may call it angina.   

Another problem with the database is that sometimes someone will make the report under the name of the generic or chemical name of the drug and sometimes under the brand name.  And with people taking multiple medications it is not always possible to tell which drug is the culprit or whether the problems stems from an interaction between or among carious drugs. 

Nonetheless the information in this database is vital to those trying to adjudicate the benefits versus the risks of taking a particular drug. 

Each drug below is linked to a page with the top Adverse Events reported to the FDA.

Antidepressants Covered in
Antidepressants: What Every Patient Needs to Know

REPORT A BAD DRUG REACTION TO THE FDA

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