Origin: Federal Telemedicine News

The Role of Informatics in Drug Development is the topic for the AMIA Meeting

The AMIA 2002 Spring Congress has major tracks that will deal with the Role of Informatics in Drug Development through the Point-of-Care. The meeting will be held at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort in Scottsdale Arizona on May 20-22, 2002.

There is an enormous growth in the pharmaceutical industry. Last year $2.8 billion prescriptions were dispensed in North America accounting for an expenditure of $145 billion dollars. With a projected annual inflation rate of 15-20%, the rational use of pharmaceuticals that is based on the effective use of information will become essential.

With these advances come new concerns. With the increasing use of medications, there is the risk of adverse drug interactions and idiosyncratic effects. Commonly used drugs for diabetes and lipid reduction has been withdrawn because of post release adverse events. Drug delivery has also become more complex, raising serious concerns over patient safety.

Major tracks for the meeting are:

• Drug discovery and clinical trials
• Use of pharmaceuticals at the point-of-care
• Point-of-care infrastructure
• The role of regulatory informatics in enhancing patient safety
• Vocabulary issues and technologies

Participants will come from the pharmaceutical industry, government, public policy, health care services, and other related professions. The goal of the meeting is to provide an arena for the cross-fertilization of ideas, development of research and business collaborations, and to provide a consensus on the informatics challenges facing pharmaceutical use.

For information go to http://www.amia.org or call (301) 657-1291