The Medicines Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has launched a social media campaign to encourage the reporting of suspected side effects from over-the-counter medicines.

The campaign features a short animation on the importance of reporting side-effects of medicines and how to go about it.

Regulators rely on the reporting of suspected side effects to make sure medicines are acceptably safe, but under-reporting of unwanted symptoms via systems such as the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme is widespread.

“Our campaign will help the public, patients and healthcare professionals report potential side effects and have confidence that their reports are making a difference,” noted Mick Foy, group manager for MHRA’s Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines division.

The campaign is part of the Strengthening Collaboration for Operating Pharmacovigilance in Europe (SCOPE) Joint Action project, which aims to raise awareness of national reporting systems for suspected side effects.