FDA to work with online patient forum to mine drug safety data

San Francisco

THE US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is turning to a patient-networking website to get a better handle on the side effects of medications.

The FDA is tapping into a broad flow of data sent to PatientsLikeMe, an online site with 350,000 members that says it's the largest and most active patient network online. Members often report their drug-use experiences, symptoms and hospitalisations on the site.

The agency said it hopes to learn more about side effects that might look harmless to a government drug reviewer but are troublesome to patients. Although the research is in the exploratory phase, it carries potential for influencin…