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CREDIBLEMEDS® AWARDED THREE-YEAR FDA CONTRACT TO SUPPORT THE SAFE USE OF ANTIBIOTICS
Landmark collaboration fosters the safe use of antibiotics through a partnership with Banner Health and the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix
TUCSON, AZ – CredibleMeds®, the internationally recognized authority on drug safety, has been awarded a three-year contract from the Safe Use Initiative of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to further their mutual goal of promoting and facilitating the safe use of medicines. Several thousand people in the US die each year from taking certain commonly prescribed antibiotics that have heart toxicity, when safer alternatives could be identified.
The award supports a CredibleMeds® partnership with the University of Arizona (UA) College of Medicine – Phoenix and Banner Health in Phoenix. The three organizations intend to establish Clinical Decision Support Systems that will assist physicians in prescribing the antibiotics that are the most appropriate and safest possible choice based on each patient’s unique medical history and data in the Banner Electronic Health Record (EHR). “The FDA is pleased to support this real world project,” said Dr. John Whyte, Director of the FDA’s Safe Use Initiative “because it will incorporate modern EHR technology with rigorous scientific evidence to help reduce preventable harm from antibiotics.”
Dr. Stuart Flynn, Dean of the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix noted that “This exciting translational development project is a natural extension of the College’s academic commitment to excellence in Health Information Technology (HIT) and will include participation by some of our most talented and innovative educators, trainees and students.”
“Banner Health is proud to be a nationally recognized leader in the use of the electronic health record,” said Peter S. Fine, President and CEO of Banner Health. “Our major plan for this technology has been to provide safe and effective care for our patients. To be part of this partnership reinforces the importance of creating and maintaining exceptional health care standards that not only benefit our medical experts, but more importantly, provide that extra layer of protection for our patients.”
Founded in 1999, CredibleMeds® utilizes its evidence-based technology, Adverse Drug Event Causality Analysis (ADECA™), to compare the cardiac safety of medicines and posts the results on its internationally respected website, www.crediblemeds.org. Each month, the site receives more than 21,000 unique visitors from over 170 countries. Major hospital systems around the world are incorporating the CredibleMeds® medicines lists into their electronic prescribing alert systems to identify and protect patients at risk for sudden cardiac death. CredibleMeds® founder Dr. Raymond Woosley predicts that, “This collaboration, made possible by the FDA, will serve as a model for how innovative teams using advanced HIT can design and implement Clinical Decision Support Systems that save lives.”