WellPoint developing drug safety monitoring system

WellPoint thinks they can do a faster and better job than the FDA to uncover potential health risks...if so, would this be considered a possibility to outsource. BD

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Health insurer W ellPoint Inc said on Tuesday it is developing a system that will use its 35 million-member database to monitor and help to more quickly identify potential safety problems of approved medicines. The Safety Sentinel System also will be able to examine potentially hazardous combinations of treatments, especially in patients with certain diseases or health conditions, such as diabetes, WellPoint said.

WellPoint's Safety Sentinel System, being developed in collaboration with U.S. health regulators and other government and academic institutions, should in theory be able to uncover health risks that might crop up once drugs are being used by the general population more quickly than the FDA, doctors or drugmakers.