In an attempt to enhance safety in medicines produced and sold, drug regulation bodies are constantly monitoring and regulating cases of adverse events. An adverse event is an untoward medical experience in a patient who is administered a pharmaceutical product and which does not necessarily have to have a casual relationship with this treatment. Such incidents reduce the confidence in the drugs sold in the market among patients. In extreme cases, adverse drug reactions have even killed patient. Pharmacovigilance signal detection is one of the best ways to detect and prevent adverse events.

Pharmacovigilance signal detection is a method through which adverse events can be detected and assessed to find the problem causing factor in a particular product. The results from the signal assessment are then recorded and used by the drug regulation authorities to set new standards for manufacturing and in post-marketing safety surveillance program. This process is followed each time a pharmacovigilance signal is detected and in turn, higher standard for manufacturing medicines can be set.

The cycle of producing quality drugs begins with detection of pharmacovigilance signals. Once the cycle of signal detection, assessment, reporting, elevation and implementation of results in drug manufacturing is complete, the resulting medicines are completely free from the signal that had caused adverse reaction in the patient. Thus, each time a pharmacovigilance signal is detected, the drug manufactured thereon will be safer.

It is thus a good way to asses the merits of existing drug and in improving the quality of ones to be manufactured. They help a great deal in making medicines safe for patients' use and instill confidence about drugs among patients.