Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety

With the prospect that innovative drug therapies will be introduced in the coming years, society demands new approaches and concepts for comparative risk/benefit evaluation. Assessment of safety and risk management of different drug therapies is done in the framework of observational epidemiological studies (proof of safety, proof of effectiveness). This is the logical next step after randomized clinical trials, which are designed to provide evidence of a drugs efficacy.

The course will cover key issues in pharmacoepidemiologic and drug safety research. Special topics include databases and molecular pharmacoepidemiology. Students will learn about the typical problems (e.g. confounding by indication, rare side effects) and approaches to deal with these problems in the practice of pharmacoepidemiology.

You will experience an intensive programme covering the following topics: Study Design and Methods; Confounding and other biases; Methods in drug safety research; Drug Safety and Risk Management; Overview of Pharmacoepidemiological databases; Molecular Pharmacoepidemiology; Drug utilization research; Synthesis, case studies & public health

Course leader

Prof. Dr. Olaf Klungel

Target group

(Post)graduates and professionals within governments, NGOs, industry, universities with a basic knowledge public health/medicine who have an interest in the policy aspects of pharmaceuticals, pharmacoepidemiology and/or pharmacoeconomics.

Course aim

The course will cover key issues in pharmacoepidemiologic and drug safety research. Special topics include databases and molecular pharmacoepidemiology. Students will learn about the typical problems (e.g. confounding by indication, rare side effects) and approaches to deal with these problems in the practice of pharmacoepidemiology.

Fee info

EUR 1150: Course + course materials + housing
EUR 950: Course + course materials + lunch