Pfizer 3.0 taps EHRs, mobile tech for drug safety

Pfizer must be listening to consultancy Ernst & Young. The big pharma is turning to electronic health records and mobile technology to improve its drug-safety monitoring and communication with physicians, in a move right along the lines of what E&Y advocates in its recent Progressions: Pharma 3.0 report (see related story).

Pfizer is working on the futuristic-sounding Adverse drug event Spontaneous Triggered Event Reporting (Aster) project. Aster uses automated prompts in the electronic health record system at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital to encourage doctors to report adverse drug events.

The big pharma is also in league with mobile-medical-apps provider Epocrates to develop the means for doctors to call or e-mail Pfizer for product information, as well as with online medical community Sermo to allow physicians to contact Pfizer with medical questions.

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