U.S. to Study Widespread Use of Pregnancy Drugs

About two-thirds of pregnant women in the United States take at least one prescription drug before giving birth. Now, the Food and Drug Administration and medical researchers are taking a closer look at the safety of the common practice.

U.S. health officials recently said they plan to examine the safety of pregnancy drugs, which could result in tighter regulations on their use. FDA officials said there is a lack of clinical trials done to determine the possible health risks to mothers and their unborn children.

The FDA and other researchers plan to join forces on a new study, to be called the Medication Exposure in Pregnancy Risk Evaluation Program.

“Results of these studies will provide valuable information for patients and physicians when making decisions about medication during pregnancy,” said Gerald Dal Pan, a director at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, according to a Reuters news report.

The new study will rely on data from 11 health plan-affiliated research sites based on health information for about one million births over a seven-year period starting in 2001, officials said.

There is no word from the FDA on how long it will take to complete the new safety study.

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