Background and importance Pharmacosurveillance aims to improve drug efficacy and patients’ safety through detection, notification and prevention of adverse drug reactions (ADR).¹ The intervention of Ambulatory Care Pharmacists, who directly assist the patient, is very important because, by detecting and notifying ADR, they will greatly improve patients’ treatment and life quality.

In Portugal, Ambulatory Care Pharmacy drugs are prescribed and purchased by international non-proprietary names (INN) and never by their commercial denomination, whether generic or not. One of the purchases’ award criterion is the most economically advantageous proposal. The ADR notifications allow the Hospital Pharmacy to purchase therapeutic alternatives for the patients.

Aim and objectives Retrospective study to analyse ADR notifications registered between 2020 and 2021 in an Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Unit.The ADR occurred in patients followed at these Ambulatory Care Pharmacy facilities.

Material and methods ADR notifications analysis occurred between 2020 and 2021 (January–September) in patients followed at the Ambulatory Care Pharmacy.

Results There were 41 ADR notifications in 2021 (January–September) and 7 ADR notifications in 2020. 27 of the ADR notified were for generic drugs, of which 16 occurred with anastrozole, 7 with imatinib, 1 with bicalutamide, 1 with emtricitabine/tenofovir, 1 with letrozole and 1 with tenofovir.

Generic drugs were related to the majority of the notified ADR. In almost every case, patients were given the same active substances produced by different generic pharmaceutical laboratories which were effective in controlling the notified ADR.

Conclusion and relevance It was verified that the majority of the notified ADR occurred with generic drugs (the majority occurred with anastrozole – a breast cancer treatment drug), which can be linked to the tablet’s pharmaceutical formulation or excipients, given that when patients were dispensed a different brand of the same drug, their symptomatology improved.

It is also appropriate to emphasise that ADR related to Imatinib Farmoz were notified, which are fundamentally related to its tablet coating, according to the patients’ complaints.

The ADR notifications’ execution by the pharmacist allowed the Hospital Pharmacy to acquire the best tolerated drugs by the patients, despite the higher costs, contributing to better patient compliance, treatment efficacy and patients’ quality of life.

References and/or acknowledgements 1. https://www.infarmed.pt/web/infarmed/perguntas-frequentes-area-transversal/medicamentos_uso_humano/farmacovigilancia

Conflict of interest No conflict of interest