Pharmacy

The recent launch of version 7.0 of Argus Safety database application, by Oracle Software shows how Information Technology (IT) has become a crucial part of the healthcare system worldwide. This new updated version is a cloud-based product that allows healthcare firms to report and manage data from adverse drug events. This updated version will help healthcare companies keep a track of the adverse effects of drugs and will also help in efficiently running clinical trials. Oracle also has other software like Clinical, Remote Data Capture and Thesaurus Management System, but how many of them are being used in India?

"In India use of specialized software like Argus is very rare. Unlike the US Food and Drug Association (FDA), in India too much emphasis or stress is not given to organized documentation of database. There are hardly any drug safety audits done in India and since no one asks for documentation of progress achieved at every level of a drug's development, companies do not invest in specific software like Argus," said Dr Arun Bhatt, President, ClinInvent Research Pvt Ltd. He continues, "We do use Oracle Clinical, but except that right now in India there are hardly any specialized software’s that are being widely used. And on top of that, the high cost of such software is another hindrance to its widespread use. All work done by Argus can easily be done in Microsoft Excel sheet and with very little stress given on organized documentation in India; Ms Excel can easily perform the task."

There are various data management software used by various companies and hospitals, but in specialized software progress is yet to be done. Few multinational companies such as Pfizer can use such specialized software but India is yet to fully utilize the power of such specialized software. And this will only be possible once the regulatory bodies set forward some hard and fast rules regarding drug safety and clinical trials, giving more emphasis on documentation and organized database.