VA To Study Off-Label Prescribing of Medications for Veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs' recently established Center for Medication Safety is launching a program to examine the effect that "off-label" prescribing -- in which physicians prescribe drugs for uses that have not been approved by the FDA -- has on patients in the VA health care system, the Contra Costa Times reports. The study was partially prompted by a Knight Ridder investigation last year that found that patients nationwide have experienced injury or death as physicians "routinely prescribe drugs for purposes the FDA has never certified as safe and effective," including prescribing an epilepsy drug to treat life-threatening psychiatric disorders and asthma drugs to prevent premature labor, the Times reports. The off-label review will initially focus on new medications that do not yet have established safety profiles and will likely involve a sample of drugs commonly prescribed throughout the VA system. When the center identifies problems, it will transmit alerts to its 11,000 physicians, according to Dr. C. Bernie Good, co-director of the safety center and chair of the VA's medical advisory panel for pharmacy benefits (Young/Adams, Contra Costa Times, 1/23).