Are people aware that they can find the latest information of drug side effects, including statins on the MHRA website?

Asked by zorro1

28 Mar 2012

I have noticed that there are many people enquiring about statin side effects here. When I started looking into statin side effects for my mum I found this government website www.mhra.gov.uk - it has a wealth of up to date information on all drugs including statins. Some of the info isn't even on the docmentation that comes with the drugs as it is issued here before the actual paperwork can be updated. If anyone is getting the brush off from a medical professional I suggest they print out some of the MHRA official advice and pronouncements in support of their concerns. Medical professionals and PATIENTS can also report their own suspected side effects directly on this site through a yellow card system.

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3 answers

DakCB-UK

28 Mar 2012

The navigation on that site is rubbish: very hard to get to useful information if it's not the latest news. I think I could find a licence for a particular drug based on the licensing number, but what would you say are the best searches to try to find other useful information?

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zorro1

28 Mar 2012

I typed 'statins side effects' because thats what I was looking for - quicker than trawling through what is indeed a massive, not especially intuitive site! It produced loads of links to reports cautions etc. and it did show up quite quickly that interstitial lung disease was a rare side effect of statins, which is the particular info that I wanted to know about.

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Aliwally

28 Mar 2012

I would also encourage anybody to use the Yellow Card scheme and report any adverse effects. I did this with rosuvastatin when it gave me an asthmatic type dry cough...which was actually was totally debilitating.

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