SAPhIRE

The SAPhIRE programme is aimed at transforming medical practice through three approaches.

Active ADR Surveillance Initiative

Working to establish a foundation for a national active ADR surveillance network by developing and testing data and text-mining algorithms of electronic medical records.

Strong Clinical Genetics Discovery Platform

Establishing a strong discovery platform to identify the molecular signatures of ADRs that have not yet been studied or validated in Asian populations. SAPhIRE will conduct clinical studies with the goal of identifying genes in local Asian populations that alter drug metabolism or distribution or response to therapy.

Molecular Diagnostic Tests to Predict ADRs

SAPhIRE will take the next step after the discovery of genetic markers of ADRs to develop clinical-grade ADR biomarker says that will allow clinicians to tailor therapeutic decisions to an individuals's risk profile

Our Mission

The mission of SAPhIRE is to bring together the pharmacovigilance expertise of Health Science Authority (HSA), scientific expertise of Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) Research Institutes and local universities and clinical resources of hospitals to develop a competitive advantage of adverse drug reactions (ADR) research in Singapore.

"Do No Harm"

This famous phrase is based on the Hippocratic Oath , which is administered to aspiring students of medicine around the world. The promise to "abstain from doing harm" is one of the principal precepts of bioethics that reminds the health care provider that medicines and other interventions carry a risk, and that must be considered to avoid harming the patient. Using the modern tools of genomics it is now possible to add another level of refinement to the use of medicines by identifying human genetic variations that predispose some individuals to a higher risk from otherwise safe therapeutics. Individuals with such genetic susceptibilities can be givendifferent doses of the drug or alternate medications to reduce the risk. The rapidly emerging field of pharmacological will provide more tools to help the modern physician adhere to the ancient call to "do no harm "