Pharmacovigilance is a combination of activities that are used to guarantee the correct use and safety of medicines. Pharmacovigilance is an essential instrument to ensure the safety of the use of medicines in order to guarantee public health.

For this reason, precise obligations have been laid down for both the health authorities and the companies that commercialise medicinal products.  Consequently, a tight collaboration between the professionals involved including international, national and local health authorities as well as pharmaceutical companies is fundamental.

In addition, a meaningful involvement of the end users, such as members of the public and patients, is also paramount.

Pharmacovigilance is a multidiscipline science, which avails itself of experts from fields such as pharmacology, epidemiology, clinicians and statisticians.