pharmacovigilance

Syllables: phar·ma·co·vi·gi·lance/ˌfɑːməkəʊˈvɪd͡ʒɪl(ə)ns/US/ˌfɑɹməkoʊˈvɪd͡ʒɪl(ə)ns/

pharmacovigilance noun: the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of medicines.

Image: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

pharmacovigilance (uncountable)

The detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of medicines.
- In our experience, a request concerning suspected drug toxicity (or an adverse effect) needs to be dealt with in greater detail than other chemical agents, to obtain information on the animals affected (species, breed, age, physiological and pathological status) and on the suspect product...1987, Veterinary Drug Registration Newsletter, Paris: Office International des Epizooties, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 23
- But it appears repurposing is possible in another crucial phase of drug development—post-marketing surveillance or pharmacovigilance, which essentially identifies adverse side effects of drugs. Experts say “repurposed” pharmacovigilance would look for and understand beneficial side effects of drugs...2009 August 19, Seema Singh, “NovaLead shows drug repositioning works”, in LiveMint, archived from the original on 06 Feb 2016

detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of medicines: மருந்தாக்கியல் கண்காணிப்பு maruntākkiyal kaṇkāṇippu

detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of medicines: صيدلة احتراسية, اليَقَظةُ الدَّوائِيَّة al-yaqaẓatu d-dawāʔiyya

detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of medicines: مراقبتهای دارویی

detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of medicines: cảnh giác dược

These led us to introduce a specific request form for drugs, called a ‘pharmacovigilance form’, used since October 1988.1987, Veterinary Drug Registration Newsletter, Paris: Office International des Epizooties, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 23:
But it appears repurposing is possible in another crucial phase of drug development—post-marketing surveillance or pharmacovigilance, which essentially identifies adverse side effects of drugs.2009 August 19, Seema Singh, “NovaLead shows drug repositioning works”, in LiveMint, archived from the original on 06 Feb 2016:

From pharmaco- + vigilance.

What does pharmacovigilance mean?: Pharmacovigilance means the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of medicines.
What is pharmacovigilance in Tamil?: Pharmacovigilance in Tamil is மருந்தாக்கியல் கண்காணிப்பு (maruntākkiyal kaṇkāṇippu). See Pharmacovigilance meaning in Tamil.
How do you use pharmacovigilance in a sentence?: These led us to introduce a specific request form for drugs, called a ‘pharmacovigilance form’, used since October 1988.
What part of speech is pharmacovigilance?: Pharmacovigilance is a noun.
How do you pronounce pharmacovigilance?: Pharmacovigilance is pronounced /ˌfɑːməkəʊˈvɪd͡ʒɪl(ə)ns/ (UK).

Adapted from Wiktionary: pharmacovigilance (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pharmacovigilance.wav.

Cite this entry: “pharmacovigilance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pharmacovigilance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.