Drug safety signals will continue to come mainly from the reporting of alert clinicians and every effort should be made to enhance this and to ease the process. The use of multipurpose health databases for finding signals has much potential, if they are better planned so that the appropriate data is captured and examined routinely. Consumer reports give us information about their concerns and should not be ignored. Better information is needed on poisoning, drug misuse and on herbal remedies. The analysis of signals must be improved and speeded up, if we are even to maintain our current safety standards, given the global release of 'blockbuster products'. Benefit-risk analysis of medicines needs to be better understood in relationship to actual clinical use, both from an individual and public health perspective. Such analysis should become more logical rather than just listing the benefits and risks, and then expressing an essentially unsupported opinion. This is essential if therapies are to be compared, and their costs justified. The communication of medicines safety and benefit-risk information to clinicians, other health professionals and patients is an area where there needs to be considerable improvements. We need to be better informed about the consequences of guidance and warnings given, so that we may improve the service we offer to recipients. In the future, information technology, which provides exciting possibilities with what it offers now will help us with all the above challenges.
