The safety of cardioselective β-blockers in asthma: literature review and search of global pharmacovigilance safety reports.

Introduction: Beta-blockers are key in the management of cardiovascular diseases but blocking airway β-receptors can cause severe and sometimes fatal bronchoconstriction in people with asthma. Although cardioselective β-blockers may be safer than non-selective β-blockers, they remain relatively contraindicated and under-prescribed. We review the evidence of the risk associated with cardioselective β-blocker use in asthma.

Synthetic cannabis: adverse events reported to the New Zealand Pharmacovigilance Centre.

Introduction: Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists (SCRA) were legally available in New Zealand (NZ) prior to May 2014. During the period November 2012-November 2019, reports of adverse events associated with SCRA use from across the country were submitted to the New Zealand Pharmacovigilance Centre (NZPhvC). The purpose of this study was to investigate adverse reactions associated with SCRA reported to the NZPhvC.

Suspected Hepatotoxicity With a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extract of in Grapeseed Oil Used in New Zealand.

A case series of hepatotoxicity associated with an extract of L. was identified through the New Zealand spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting system. extract, produced using a supercritical carbon dioxide extraction method and formulated with grapeseed oil, has been marketed in New Zealand as a natural product for joint health.

Case Series Analysis of New Zealand Reports of Rapid Intense Potentiation of Warfarin by Roxithromycin.

Introduction: We undertook an analysis of all the reports to the New Zealand Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring of a roxithromycin/warfarin interaction after two recent reports described intense rapid warfarin potentiation. The interaction was first published in 1995. Cytochrome P450 3A4 inhibition has been the proposed mechanism but has limited biologic plausibility.

A new web-based Medication Error Reporting Programme (MERP) to supplement pharmacovigilance in New Zealand--findings from a pilot study in primary care.

Aims: To determine if primary care clinicians would report medication errors using a new web-based system, and to obtain data illustrating the potential of the information collected to improve medication safety.

Method: The New Zealand Pharmacovigilance Centre led the development of the Medication Error Reporting Programme (MERP) which was then piloted over an 8- month period involving 38 general practice and 28 community pharmacy staff. The Pharmacy Defence Association also contributed dispensing error claims.

Vaccines against meningococcal serogroup B disease containing outer membrane vesicles (OMV): lessons from past programs and implications for the future.

The utility of wild-type outer membrane vesicle (wtOMV) vaccines against serogroup B (MenB) meningococcal disease has been explored since the 1970s. Public health interventions in Cuba, Norway and New Zealand have demonstrated that these protein-based vaccines can prevent MenB disease. Data from large clinical studies and retrospective statistical analyses in New Zealand give effectiveness estimates of at least 70%.

Detecting medication errors in the New Zealand pharmacovigilance database: a retrospective analysis.

Background: Despite the traditional focus being adverse drug reactions (ADRs), pharmacovigilance centres have recently been identified as a potentially rich and important source of medication error data.

Objective: To identify medication errors in the New Zealand Pharmacovigilance database (Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring [CARM]), and to describe the frequency and characteristics of these events.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of the CARM pharmacovigilance database operated by the New Zealand Pharmacovigilance Centre was undertaken for the year 1 January-31 December 2007.

Pharmacovigilance in New Zealand: the role of the New Zealand Pharmacovigilance Centre in facilitating safer medicines use.

The New Zealand Pharmacovigilance Centre (NZPhvC) is the national centre responsible for monitoring adverse reactions to therapeutic products in New Zealand(NZ). The NZPhvC operates three pharmacovigilance programmes and this article explains how each of these programmes operate, focuses on their strengths and limitations, and looks to the future for medicines safety monitoring in NZ.

The Intensive Vaccines Monitoring Programme (IVMP): an electronic system to monitor vaccine safety in New Zealand.

New Zealand introduced a tailor-made vaccine (MeNZB) for epidemic control of Group B meningococcal disease. The Intensives Vaccine Monitoring Programme (IVMP), which prospectively collected data electronically on a cohort of children receiving vaccinations in sentinel practices across NZ, was developed as part of a national multi-faceted safety strategy. The main aim of the IVMP was to identify the presence of unexpected adverse events occurring with MeNZB vaccination.

Post-marketing safety monitoring of a new group B meningococcal vaccine in New Zealand, 2004-2006.

New Zealand introduced a new outer membrane vesicle vaccine in 2004 to combat an epidemic of group B meningococcal disease. An Independent Safety Monitoring Board oversaw intensive safety monitoring, which included hospital surveillance, health professional reporting (passive and active) and mortality monitoring. With over three million doses administered to individuals aged under 20 years, the monitoring results provide consistent evidence supporting the vaccine's safety.

Psychiatric adverse reactions with statins, fibrates and ezetimibe: implications for the use of lipid-lowering agents.

The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors ('statins') have come into widespread use internationally. There has been a long history of their use in New Zealand and this use has increased in recent years. There has also been an increase in the number of reports to the New Zealand Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM) of suspected psychiatric adverse reactions associated with statins.