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Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS)

What is AERS?

The Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) is a database that contains information on adverse event and medication error reports submitted to FDA. The database is designed to support the FDA's post-marketing safety surveillance program for drug and therapeutic biologic products. The informatic structure of the AERS database adheres to the international safety reporting guidance issued by the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH E2B). Adverse events and medication errors are coded to terms in the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) terminology.

How Does FDA Use the Information in AERS?

AERS is a useful tool for FDA for activities such as looking for new safety concerns that might be related to a marketed product, evaluating a manufacturer's compliance to reporting regulations and responding to outside requests for information. The reports in AERS are evaluated by clinical reviewers in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) to monitor the safety of products after they are approved by FDA. If a potential safety concern is identified in AERS, further evaluation is performed. Further evaluation might include conducting studies using other large databases, such as those available in the Sentinel System. Based on an evaluation of the potential safety concern, FDA may take regulatory action(s) to improve product safety and protect the public health, such as updating a product’s labeling information, restricting the use of the drug, communicating new safety information to the public, or, in rare cases, removing a product from the market.

Who Reports to AERS?

Reporting of adverse events and medication errors by healthcare professionals and consumers is voluntary in the United States. FDA receives some adverse event and medication error reports directly from healthcare professionals (such as physicians, pharmacists, nurses and others) and consumers (such as patients, family members, lawyers and others). Healthcare professionals and consumers may also report adverse events and/or medication errors to the products’ manufacturers. If a manufacturer receives an adverse event report, it is required to send the report to FDA as specified by regulations. The reports received directly and the reports from manufacturers are entered into AERS.

How Can I Report an Adverse Event or Medication Error to FDA?

The MedWatch site provides information about voluntary and mandatory reporting.

Can Mandatory Reporters Submit Adverse Events Electronically?

The Adverse Events Reporting System (AERS) Electronic Submissions site provides drug and therapeutic biological product manufacturers, distributors, packers, and other interested parties with information about FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) electronic submissions and instructions on how to electronically submit postmarketing individual case safety reports (ICSRs), with and without attachments.

Do AERS Data Have Limitations?

AERS data do have limitations. First, there is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event. Further, FDA does not receive reports for every adverse event or medication error that occurs with a product. Many factors can influence whether or not an event will be reported, such as the time a product has been marketed and publicity about an event. Therefore, AERS data cannot be used to calculate the incidence of an adverse event or medication error in the U.S. population.

Are AERS Data Available to the Public?

AERS data are available to the public in the following ways:

AERS Statistics: provides numbers of reports that FDA has received for drug and therapeutic biologic products over the past ten years.
AERS Data Files: provides raw data consisting of individual case safety reports extracted from the AERS database. A simple search of AERS data cannot be performed with these files by persons who are not familiar with creation of relational databases.
Individual case safety reports from the AERS database can also be obtained by sending a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to FDA.

Where Else Can I Find Safety Information?