Introduction to drug utilization research

Overview

The ultimate goal of drug utilization research must be to assess whether drug therapy is rational or not. History has taught us that successful research in drug utilization requires multidisciplinary collaboration between clinicians, clinical pharmacologists, pharmacists and epidemiologists. Without the support of the prescribers, this research effort will fail to reach its goal of facilitating the rational use of drugs.

Prepared by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Utilization Research and Clinical Pharmacological Services, and the International Working Group for Drug Statistics Methodology