What is pharmacovigilance?

Pharmacovigilance is fundamentally concerned with the science and activities related to the detection, assessment, understanding, and prevention of adverse effects or any other drug-related problems. This encompasses the continuous monitoring of medications once they are on the market to ensure they are used safely and effectively.

The essence of pharmacovigilance lies in ensuring patient safety and improving drug therapeutic efficacy by systematically collecting data on adverse drug reactions and drug interactions. It allows healthcare professionals, regulatory agencies, and the pharmaceutical industry to take informed actions to mitigate risks associated with medications, which is pivotal in upholding public health.

In the context of the options provided, the focus on safety and risk reduction clearly defines what pharmacovigilance entails, making it the accurate representation of the concept. Other options such as studying drug pricing, prescribing medications, or developing new pharmaceutical products, while vital aspects of the pharmaceutical field, do not capture the safety and monitoring aspect intrinsic to pharmacovigilance.