The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will start collecting information on the side effects of new drugs directly from doctors, officials said Tuesday.
The ministry believes it can respond more quickly to side effects by collecting data from doctors within six months after a drug is put on sale. The effort will augment the ministry's conventional system of gathering data via pharmaceutical companies, they said.
If side effects are documented, the ministry may take other steps, including updating explanations that are supplied with the drug or pulling it from the market.