A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine 
National Institutes of Health
Drug Safety
In the U.S., the government's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must approve any drug - whether it's prescription or over-the-counter - before it can be sold. The FDA evaluates the safety of a drug by looking at side effects, how it's manufactured, results of animal testing and clinical trials, and more. The FDA also monitors a drug's safety after approval.
For you, drug safety means buying online from only legitimate pharmacies and taking your medicines correctly.
The top row in the table of contents box contains the following groups:
Basics
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Learn More
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Multimedia & Cool Tools
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For group Learn More
For group Multimedia & Cool Tools
The bottom row in the table of contents box contains the following groups:
Research
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Reference Shelf
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For You
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Overviews
- Buying & Using Medicine Safely(Food and Drug Administration)
- Find the Latest Drug Product and Safety Information(Food and Drug Administration)
- Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts(Food and Drug Administration)
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Latest News
- Infections from Tainted Spine Injections Continue to Baffle Investigators(05/16/2013, HealthDay)
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Adverse Event Reporting Is Valued Information(05/14/2013, Food and Drug Administration)
- Antibiotic Azithromycin Won't Harm Healthy Hearts(05/01/2013, HealthDay)
- ER Visits Tied to Ambien on the Rise(05/01/2013, HealthDay)
- Generic Drugs: Same Medicine, Lower Cost(02/21/2013, Food and Drug Administration)
- More News on Drug Safety
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Specific Conditions
- 'Expired Medicines': Are They Safe?(InteliHealth, Harvard Medical School)
- Don't Buy Drugs Marketed as Antimicrobial Dietary Supplements(Food and Drug Administration)
- Ensuring the Safety of Imported Products(Food and Drug Administration)
- Generic Drugs: Questions and Answers(Food and Drug Administration)
- Also available in Spanish
- Special Risks of Pharmacy Compounding(Food and Drug Administration)
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Related Issues
- BeSafeRx: Know Your Online Pharmacy(Food and Drug Administration)
- Also available in Spanish
- Buying Medicines and Medical Products Online FAQs(Food and Drug Administration)
- Buying Prescription Drugs Online: The Do's and Don'ts(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Drug Development Process(Food and Drug Administration)
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FDA 101: Product Recalls - From First Alert to Effectiveness Checks
(Food and Drug Administration)
- FDA 101: Regulating Biological Products(Food and Drug Administration)
- Impact of Severe Weather Conditions on Biological Products(Food and Drug Administration)
- Also available in Spanish
- Is It Really FDA Approved?(Food and Drug Administration)
- Managing Drug Safety Issues(Food and Drug Administration)
- MedWatch, the FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program(Food and Drug Administration)
- Off-Label Use of Approved Drugs(Food and Drug Administration)
- Online Pharmacies(American Academy of Family Physicians)
- Postmarket Drug Safety Information(Food and Drug Administration)
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Safety Reporting Portal(National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration)
- Unapproved Drugs: Drugs Marketed in the United States That Do Not Have Required FDA Approval(Food and Drug Administration)
- Your Guide to Reporting Problems to FDA(Food and Drug Administration)
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Videos
- FDA 101: Product Recalls(Food and Drug Administration)
- Identifying Recalled Products(Food and Drug Administration)
- Reporting Problems to FDA(Food and Drug Administration)
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Journal Articles
References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
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Dictionaries/Glossaries
- FDA Guide to Drug Safety Terms(Food and Drug Administration)
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Organizations
- Food and Drug Administration
- Institute for Safe Medication Practices
- SafeMedication.com(American Society of Health-System Pharmacists)
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Law and Policy
- Report a Problem to FDA(Food and Drug Administration)
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Drug Safety - Multiple Languages
