What does pharmacovigilance primarily focus on?

Pharmacovigilance primarily focuses on preventing adverse drug reactions. This field is essential in monitoring the safety of medications once they are on the market, aiming to identify, assess, understand, and prevent any adverse effects or any other drug-related problems. By collecting and analyzing data regarding the safety of pharmaceutical products, pharmacovigilance helps ensure that the benefits of a drug outweigh the risks, thereby protecting public health.

While increasing medication adherence, developing new pharmaceuticals, and assessing drug efficacy are important aspects of pharmacotherapy, they do not fall under the primary focus of pharmacovigilance. Medication adherence relates more to patient compliance and education, developing new pharmaceuticals pertains to the research and development phases before a drug is marketed, and assessing drug efficacy generally addresses whether a medication produces the desired effect in clinical settings. Therefore, the emphasis of pharmacovigilance is distinct and specifically concerned with the ongoing safety monitoring of medications in use.