New initiatives for pharmacovigilance in South Korea: introducing the Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management (KIDS)

PurposePharmacovigilance plays a vital role in ensuring that patients receive appropriate medical products that are safe and effective. This paper aims to describe the history of pharmacovigilance in Korea and introduce the establishment and goal of the KIDS. MethodsIn Korea, the adverse drug reactions (ADR) reporting system was launched in 1988 by the Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) and spontaneous ADR reports have been collected from health care professionals and the general public. Although the ADR reporting system has begun, the reporting rate was very low in the first 10 years, and safety actions were done passively in response to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or European Medicines Agency (EMA)'s safety alert and communications. ResultsTherefore, the Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management (KIDS) was established in April 2012 as a new initiative for pharmacovigilance. ConclusionsThe KIDS will continue to contribute to the improvement of Korean pharmacovigilance by collecting, managing, and analyzing consumer-centered drug safety information. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.