Toronto, February 12, 2007 –  A new Alliance of health professionals, academia, patients, health care policy experts and industry individuals has been formed to address issues related to the use of medications during pregnancy.  The Canadian Alliance for the Safe and Effective Use of Medications in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding (Pregmedic)intends to advocate for maternal/foetal and breastfeeding health and safety issues, particularly with regards to the safety of medications.

Founding members of Pregmedic are: Anne Tomalin, CanReg Inc., Dr. Gideon Koren, Motherisk, Dr. Donald Davis, Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC), Mercédes Benegbi, Thalidomide Victims Association of Canada (TVAC) and Carole Boyer, Duchesnay Inc.

“The main goal of Pregmedic is to have pregnant women and their foetuses recognized as a vulnerable patient population and to ensure that health care professionals and patients have access to current and reliable information on the safety and efficacy of medications used during pregnancy and breastfeeding”, stated Anne Tomalin, Chair and Coordinator of the new Alliance.

The idea of creating this Alliance emerged following the Motherisk Symposium Establishing a New Benchmark for Drug Evaluation during Pregnancy, which took place during the 2006 Canadian Therapeutics Congress. The objective of this symposium was to review and discuss scientific and regulatory issues, challenges and solutions to ensure that pregnant women in need of drug therapies can be safely treated.  The Symposium’s proceedings have just been published in the January issue of Canadian Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (www.cjcp.ca).

“The articles contained in these proceedings deal with a variety of aspects of the issues, from the clinical and toxicological to the regulatory, from first trimester teratological effects to late pregnancy pharmacotherapy of labour”, stated Dr. Gideon Koren.  “It is hoped that this will help to empower the formation of new avenues to study drug therapies during pregnancy and lactation as well as establish a new benchmark for drug evaluation during pregnancy. Treating the mother while protecting the unborn should always be our main concern,” concluded Dr. Koren.

Encl: Backgrounder

For more information: or contact Anne Tomalin, Chair of the Alliance at 905-689-3980.
Or visit Pregmedic.org.