iGuard Offering and Drug Safety Webcast

I always enjoy getting e-mails from readers promoting new ideas or suggesting sites or events to look at.  I received an e-mail the other day about iGuard which is a new company which is focused on delivering patient information about drugs as new information is identified. 

It is interesting although I am not sure how much new information is discovered that is material, but when it is, I agree that I would want to know.  Now, reading the website reveals that they have several concepts:

1. Alert you and your doctor (if you choose) about important safety information for the drugs you are taking.  [Could be interesting depending on frequency of material new information.  Of course, most generic drugs which are tried and true will have little updates.  New drugs may have a lot of updates in the initial years.]
2. Distribute risk ratings that help you understand drug risk today, and in the future as new safety information emerges. [You should get this today with any prescription although you probably don’t read it.]
3. Facilitate communication between you and your physician about medication risks and monitoring.  [Interesting.  Not sure how this will be done.  Helping capture side effects and track them would be good data for MDs, pharma companies, and patient communities.]
4. Provide an easily accessible summary of your medicines and conditions for your own records and to use in coordinating care across all your physicians.  [Ok, but this is another site for this.  Plugging this offering into a PHR or EMR probably is the long-term opportunity.]
5. Help researchers identify safety problems faster.  [Interesting]
6. Support family members and caregivers who are responsible for dependents in monitoring safety.  [Helping capture new drugs, side effects, new research, etc. and sharing that with the care team is an opportunity.]

Now, it is important to blend this with a multi-modal delivery strategy which allows the patient to integrate this data into other systems they use and allows them to chose the channel for delivery – e-mail, SMS, fax, live call, automated call, letter, etc. 

So, if interested, visit the website (www.iguard.org) and/or listen in to the webcast (see below):

iGuard
Live Webcast POWER TO THE PATIENTS!
The Most Up-to-Date Drug Safety Information
Sent Directly to You When You Need ItThursday, October 4, 2007 2:00 PM Eastern
Register Here!