There has never been a time in the pharmaceutical industry when the coding of adverse events was more pivotal. The industry is not quite to the point of knowing that three identical events will trigger a product withdrawal. But it’s close. In that context, Phase Forward last week updated its Central Coding software. It is designed to simplify the coding of verbatim reports using the industry’s standard terminological behemoths, the World Health Organization’s WHO Drug Dictionary (WHO-DD) and the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Affairs (MedDRA). The software also works with internal, proprietary company-specific dictionaries. Just as a spell checker can automatically correct “teh,” Cental Coding can automatically apply an appropriate standardized code for “head pain.” You’re welcome to do that by hand, of course. Many sponsors do. But that leads to its own complications if “head pain” receives a new code. Or several. Or if there is a new edition of…more...