Patient Safety Information

Communicating safety information to patients and healthcare professionals is a public health responsibility and is essential to achieve the objectives of pharmacovigilance in terms of promoting the safe and rational use of medicines and preventing harm from adverse reactions.

As part of our commitment to transparent, accurate information sharing with our stakeholders, the Aspen Group is aligned to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority’s (SAHPRA) “Guideline for Handling Dear Healthcare Professional Letters relating to Medicine Safety” that was published on 31 January 2020. This Guideline is intended to supplement the protocols relating to information sharing regarding the safety, quality and efficacy of medicines.

A Dear Healthcare Professional (DHCP) letter is a communiqué in the form of a letter intended to convey important medicine safety information, distributed by Marketing Authorisation Holders/Holders of Certificates of Registration, directly to individual healthcare professionals. The DHCP letter further advises healthcare professionals on the need to take certain action or adapt their practices in relation to the use of the implicated medicine. These letters may be complemented by other communication tools and channels while simultaneously ensuring that a principle of consistent information is applied.

All DHCP letters issued by Aspen Pharmacare to South African healthcare professionals with effect from 1 February 2020 are available below.