Building a Computerized Herbal Substance Register for Implementation and Use in the World Health Organisation Internatio
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BUILDING A COMPUTERIZED HERBAL SUBSTANCE REGISTER FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND USE IN THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION INTERNATIONAL DRUG MONITORING PROGRAMME HELENAFUCIK.BSc PHARM Data Processing Co-ordinator. Uppsala Monitoring Centre. Uppsala, Sweden
ANDERSBACKLUND, PHD Uppsala University. Uppsala. Sweden
MOHAMEDFARAH, PHD Uppsala Monitoring Centre. Uppsala. Sweden
The overdl uim of this project is to sort and structure the plant nanie material guthered l?y Mohunred Faruh. PhD. i n order to update the substance register of the iriternutiorrol
darobuse of odlterse drug reactions. the International Drug I@ormution System (INTDIS). This dritobtrse is used within the World Ileolth Orxanisntion {WHO) Interniitional Ilrug Monitoring Progrcinrme. \rihicli for niore than 30 yeurs hns collected irlforniation about udverse drug renctions (AIIKs). I n recent !ears. ii has become necessary to store information about herbol rncdicinul remedies u s well u s trllopathic drugs. In order to create a structure thut ci1Io)iwifor m . s y retrielwl, (1 set cf neb$' Irerbcil serial nurnbers halie been as.sigrred, which indicute iiiothc~rplant, part. mid type of extract used for each herbal . ~ l l b S l l l l i ~and t ~ ; the rf,gister as dc.sicqncd10 contain rerords of scientific. verimculnr; and s. \$'ere identified 11s such. The system H'~Sbuilt iri ii lociil coninion nnnre s ~ ~ n o n y r iwhich Pc' eirvironnient mid H'US impli~nreriredinto INTnlS durirrg the fall of 2001. Key Words: Herbals; Adverse dntg reactions: WHO database; Pharrnacovigilance; Structured register
INTRODUCTION THE NEED To lect ADR reports on herbal remedies, in a similar way to that used for reports of ADRs on conventional Western medicines, was in-
Reprint address: Helena Fucik. BSc Phami. Data Processing Co-ordinator. Uppsala Monitoring Centre. Stora Torget 3, 753 20, Uppsala. Sweden (e-mail: Helena. fucikowho-umc.org).
creasing. In the past. herbal remedies. if they were mentioned at all in ADR reports, were mainly -&other>3 medications that were not suspected of causing the ADR. As such, there was not a great need to be precise in identifying the actual ingredients. But over the years, there has been an increase in reports where herbal remedies are suspected of causing the AIIRs. This reflects a cultural change in Western countries where more people are USing natural products instead of synthetic-
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Helarici Fucik. Aridem Bocklurid, mid Moharned F‘cimh
chemicals, as these are perceived as a safer choice. Also, it reflects an increasing awareness that these natural products may actually also cause harm. The current increase in awareness of the potential harmful effects of herbal medicines is, in fact, a parallel to the story of ADR reports of allopathic medicines. In the early days of modern pharmaceuticals, these were thought to be safer than herbal remedies, as they contained only purified substances. As described by Bruhn (1), this view was a result of the r
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