Pharmacovigilance Programme of India: The Beginning, Current Status and Recent Progress

Abstract

Pharmacovigilance is a crucial part of drug development process which helps in assessing any drug’s adverse event profile. Years after the start of WHO’s International Drug Monitoring Programme, Government of India launched the Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI) in 2010. The main function of PvPI is monitoring the Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) efficiently by setting up various Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Centres (AMC) across India and training personnel who can perform this function. PvPI has played an important role in generating awareness amongst healthcare professionals (HCPs) about the importance and the process of reporting ADRs which has led to a multifold increase in ADR reporting. There have been recent developments and advancements overseen by PvPI with a view to further increase the reach of pharmacovigilance across the country, which would further result in betterment in the ADR reporting. In this article, we try to give an overview of the PvPI, with a brief take on the history of the programme along with a look at the necessary steps being taken by the members of PvPI to improve the process of ADR reporting in the country.