Drug safety scares: the need for message management

The recent premature termination of one arm of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial has received significant attention from the media, health professionals and the public. The manner in which data from the trial was presented in the media may have influenced the responses of the general public, physicians and other health professionals and possibly caused unnecessary alarm. Drug safety scares concerning hormone replacement therapy (HRT), oral contraceptives (OCs), NSAIDs and vaccines, and their impact on physician behaviour, were topics of discussion at the 18^th International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology [Edinburgh, Scotland; August 2002]. It was clear from the discussion that information pertaining to these scares, especially statistical information, needs to be communicated in a much more accurate and managed way between various groups, particularly between the scientific community and the media.