Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh: Towards next-generation pharmacovigilance capabilities for the UK

12th January 2026

Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh: Towards next-generation pharmacovigilance capabilities for the UK

Summary: Published on 8th January 2026, this guest blog highlights the UK’s longstanding leadership in pharmacovigilance — rooted in the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme — and argues that now is a pivotal moment to build next-generation safety monitoring systems. Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh notes that recent advances, including rapid digitisation of Yellow Card reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and the adoption of AI to handle large volumes of reports, demonstrate how modern tools can enhance surveillance. With near-universal digital health records and the imminent launch of the Health Data Research Service, he proposes leveraging linked, anonymised health data across the UK population to automate routine safety analyses, detect rare adverse events more quickly, and identify high-risk subgroups in near real-time. This approach could mean moving from largely passive reporting towards a proactive, always-on pharmacovigilance model, combining enhanced passive surveillance with active population-level analysis to further safeguard patient health. 

Link: Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh: Towards next-generation pharmacovigilance capabilities for the UK

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