Dear Friends, yesterday winnerscience has posted admission alert about one year PG Diploma programme in Pharmacovigilance offered by Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi.

Do you know what pharmacovigilance is? Lets discuss it:

Pharmacovigilance is a new and upcoming science related to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of short term and long term adverse effects or any other possible drug-related problems. It is a study of drug related adverse effect carried out by pharmaceutical industries to suggest warnings and recommendation for product withdrawal.

Adverse Drug Effect (ADR) and its definition:
“A response which is noxious and unintended and which occurs at doses normally used in humans for the prophylaxis, diagnosis or therapy of disease, or for the modification of physiological function.” (WHO, 1972)

Karch and Lasagna defined ADR as “Any response to a drug that is noxious and unintended, and that occurs at doses used in humans for prophylaxis, diagnosis, or therapy, excluding failure to accomplish the intended purpose.”

Importance:

There are differences among countries in the occurrence of ADRs and other drug-related problems. This may be due to differences in diseases and prescribing practices, genetics, diet, traditions of the people, drug manufacturing processes used which influence pharmaceutical quality and composition, drug distribution and use including indications, dose and availability.

The use of traditional and complementary drugs (e.g. herbal remedies) may also pose specific toxicological problems, when used alone or in combination with other drugs.Therefore, Pharmacovigilance is needed for detecting ADRs and specifically to combat counterfeit and substandard quality products. ADR monitoring ensures that patients obtain safe and efficacious products.

The Objectives of Pharmacovigilance are to :

a) improve public health and safety in relation to the use of medicines.
b) improve patient care and safety in relation to the use of medicines and all medical and paramedical interventions.
c) contribute to the assessment of benefit, harm, effectiveness and risk of medicines, encouraging their safe, rational and more effective (including cost-effective) use.
d) promote understanding, education and clinical training in pharmacovigilance and its effective communication to the public.

Remuneration

A job holder in this field can get the starting salary of Rs.3.5 lakh – Rs.8 Lakh per annum.

Eligibility/Qualification

Below are the eligibility conditions required by the Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi. Other institutes also require the qualifications on the same line:

Candidates must hold a B. Pharm. degree from a PCI and AICTE approved Institute / MBBS / BVSc / BDS / BAMS / M.Sc. Life Sciences degree from a recognized University. Candidates must have a first class or minimum 60% marks in average (45% for SC/ST) in graduation / postgraduation (QE). In case the examining Board does not award a class, the percentage marks in graduation / postgraduation will be computed as average of marks obtained in all subjects in which candidate has appeared (excluding optional subjects).

Notes:
(1) Candidates with foreign diplomas should see the EdCIL website for equivalence (http://www.edcil.co.in), and if required should obtain an equivalence certificate well in advance from the evaluation division of the AIU (website http://www.aiuweb.org).
(2) In case any Board / University awards grades instead of marks, the calculation of equivalent marks would be based on the procedure prescribed by the Board / University.  In case a University does not have any scheme for converting CGPA into equivalent marks, the equivalence would be established by dividing obtained CGPA with the maximum possible CGPA and multiplying the resultant with 100.

Current Admission Notice:

Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi is offering PG Diploma programme in Pharmacovigilance –1 year (2-semesters).

Last date to apply is 17^th Feb, 2011.

For further information regarding fee etc., visit:

http://www.bitmesra.ac.in/cms.aspx?this=1&mid=796&cid=584