Pharmacoepidemiology – Assessing the Risks and Benefits of Drugs in the Postmarketing Phase

Abstract

The Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit (BPU) is a research unit affiliated with the Institute of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Basel, the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Basel University Hospital, and the Boston University School of Medicine. The main research activities of the BPU are drug safety studies in the post-marketing phase, but drug utilisation studies as well as clinical epidemiology projects are also part of the research activities of the BPU. Many of the research projects of the BPU are done upon request by and in close collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry. The main research tool the BPU currently uses is the UK-based 'General Practice Research Database' (GPRD), a unique and ongoing data collection of some 5 million out-patient records including demographics, diagnoses and drug prescriptions. The BPU uses various study designs (e.g. follow-up, case-control studies) to address the study questions of interest. The BPU conducts epidemiological research projects covering a wide spectrum of exposures and outcomes.