Prospective Study of the Influence of the Media on Reporting Medical Events

The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) spontaneous adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting system functions to collect worldwide voluntarily/spontaneously reported medical events that occur in association with the use of a pharmaceutical product from physicians, pharmacists, patients, etc. While publicity surrounding a drug has frequently been considered to directly affect the number of medical events or adverse reactions reported, the effect has usually not been documented. The Upjohn Company prospectively studied the impact of the media on the reporting of Halcion® Tablets (triazolam) medical events during the first quarter of 1989. A survey of the number of medical event reports received before and after the product was discussed on a national television program revealed that reports increased dramatically (nearly doubled) as a direct and indirect effect of the program