Current News Releases
Sept. 18, 2008
State approves CoEE in Medication Safety and Efficacy
A new state-funded Center of Economic Excellence based in part at the University of South Carolina will work to reduce medication errors that harm millions of patients each year.
The $2 million CoEE in Medication Safety and Efficacy will be a collaboration with the Medical University of South Carolina and the Health Sciences South Carolina consortium, which will provide matching financial support for the center. The two universities jointly manage the South Carolina College of Pharmacy--with campuses in both Columbia and Charleston--where the center will be based.
"We are excited to work with MUSC and HSSC to create a nationally prominent research center," says Dr. Rose Booze, University of South Carolina interim vice president for research. "We believe that the innovative work at this center can make a difference in the lives of South Carolinians by dramatically reducing the number of medication errors."
The center will work to increase drug safety and effectiveness and decrease medication errors in South Carolina by identifying the incidence and significance of adverse drug events that occur with prescription and non-prescription drugs, according to center director Rick Schnellmann.
The Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academies of Science, reports that medication errors not only create consequences for patients "ranging from mild reactions to death" but also raise medical costs by billions of dollars annually because of the additional treatment required for drug-related injuries. Medication errors are one of the top 10 medical malpractice claims, according to Hospitals and Health Networks magazine.
The new center's research data will be provided to hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and state and federal agencies for use in epidemiological and economic studies that will help lead to fewer drug injuries and improved drug effectiveness in South Carolina.
An expert in pharmacoepidemiology--the study of the use and effects of drugs in large numbers of people--and economics will be recruited to lead the CoEE. The chair-holder will be also be tasked with increasing federal funding to South Carolina for research in this field.
The research produced by the Medication Safety and Efficacy CoEE is expected to have significant cost-saving benefits for the state.
"We believe that the proper dissemination of drug information through patient-provider partnerships and new and improved drug information resources could reduce health care costs in S.C. by 10 percent over the next five to 10 years," says Dr. John Raymond, vice president for academic affairs and provost at MUSC.
Nationwide, the cost of drug-related death and disease from medication errors and adverse drug events could be as high as $177 billion (in year 2000 values), according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Other prospective benefits the Center could have for South Carolina include increased extramural research funding, job creation at the CoEE and via start-up companies based upon the center's intellectual property, and investments from out-of-state healthcare companies.
"South Carolina is striving to assume a leadership role in developing technology capability, knowledge resources, faculty expertise and advanced programs in the field of pharmacoepidemiology and economic research," said CoEE Review Board Chair Paula Harper Bethea. "Not only does this area offer the potential to generate highly technical start-up companies, but more importantly, it also will help prevent mistakes that needlessly hurt and even kill so many people in this state and across the U.S."
