Project 412228

Evidence suggests that over 75% of women take at least one medication during pregnancy. Yet, data on the safety and efficacy of medications used during pregnancy is lacking due to the routine exclusion of pregnant women from clinical trials because of concerns about potential harm to the developing fetus. Hence, data on the safety, and effectiveness of drug exposure during pregnancy before marketing of new medications, or medications with new indications, is scarce. In May 2019, the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network (DSEN) and Health Canada have provided seed funding to the Canadian Mother-Child Cohort Active Surveillance Initiative (CAMCCO) to put in place provincial mother-child cohorts using real-world evidence (www.motherchildcohort.ca). Digitization of health care provides new opportunities to close the divide between research and clinical care for medications used during pregnancy. This allowed Canadian perinatal pharmacoepidemiology researchers to join forces to start developing standardized and harmonized cohorts, based on the Quebec Pregnancy/Child Cohort and US Sentinel program models. Including data from multiple provinces will also result in access to more diverse populations. The aim of CAMCCO is to quantify the benefits/risks of medication use during pregnancy for mothers/children in a timely and valid manner in order to have significant impacts on how medications are used and prescribed during pregnancy and childhood, and how health policies are implemented. CAMCCO is actively working on the implementation of this initiative by training within-province programmers, and has established a working environment among team members and stakeholders. Given that in-person meetings allow more brainstorming and increased efficiency as well as an opportunity for knowledge-transfer and training, we are planning the 1st CAMCCO Symposium in Montreal on February 20th, 2020. This team-building event is essential for future planning, and to establish priorities.