A comparative analysis of the pharmacovigilance systems of Brazil, Spain, the European Union and the United States based on the information provided by their regulatory agency websites.

BACKGROUND: Pharmacovigilance (PV) plays an essential role in monitoring and raising awareness of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Increasingly, ADRs are reported and PV information and activities are circulated via the Internet. PV actions are carried out by the Regulatory Agencies (RAs) responsible for medicinal products in each country.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to ascertain and assess the operation and areas of competence of the PV system in Brazil and to compare them with those of Spain, the European Union (EU) and the United States (USA), through the information available on the websites of the RAs in each country.

METHODS: A search of the information provided on the websites of these countries' RAs, establishing indicators to assess how far the information is available and accessible.

RESULTS: The RAs we studied are similarly organised and they complied with most of the 38 indicators we defined to obtain and assess the information they provide on PV procedures and their systems for electronic reporting of ADRs. Brazil's RA, ANVISA, complied with 100% of the areas of competence analysed and with 92.11% of the indicators established for the study.

CONCLUSIONS: Brazil's PV system, through ANVISA, achieves a good level of performance, both in itself and compared to the other RAs. There is room for improvement in three of the indicators analysed.