Conclusions

CONCLUSIONS

The future for pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepi-demiology should be bright. That there is a need for this type of information is without doubt. The original vision of Professor Finney that it should be possi-ble to uncover most significant drug-induced disor-ders by systematic analysis of routine information collected as part of everyday clinical practice is on the verge of fulfillment. Funding is a chronic problem for workers in the field. The pharmaceutical indus-try cannot be expected to fund all this effort. So far it has contributed the lion’s share of the initia-tive. Research Councils and others involved in the public conduct of affairs also need to contribute if the systems we have evolved to date are to realise their full potential. The signs are good with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the United Kingdom now contributing substantially to the development of the General Practice Research Database.