Safe to take? New UofT program to provide info on exposures to medicines in pregnancy and lactation

The University of Toronto has launched a new information hub and research network about the impacts of exposure to medications, vaccines, environmental chemicals and substances in pregnancy and lactation. The program, called First Exposure, will bring together a wide network of researchers and healthcare professionals and include an accessible public-facing website. The Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is one of the faculties collaborating in the program. “We expect that this will be a great opportunity for our researchers and for our students,” Lisa Dolovich, the faculty's dean told Pharmacy Practice + Business. A number of faculty members already do research in fetal and maternal medicine. The website is expected to launch in the fall, Dolovich said. It will have tools to help users with everything they may need, including appropriate use, viable alternatives, pronunciation, international names for the medications and costs of medications, said Dr. Jennifer Blake, scientific director of First Exposure, an obstetrician and gynecologist and professor at Dalla Lana School of Public Health. The website will be a one-stop resource for patients, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. “Pharmacists are key resources in all of our communities for information on the effects of medications on pregnancy and lactation and the idea that we can have a trusted resource like this available is really important,” Dolovich said. Read: Significant numbers of marijuana users continue use during pregnancy mistakenly thinking it's safe The program will be based in out of the Dalla Lana School of Public health and will involve a wide network of researchers, physicians, nurses, toxicologists, and experts in privacy issues, literature review and science communication, among others. “There are many different kinds of people that are weighting in on this information, and I think that makes it richer,” Dolovich said. First Exposure was kick-started by a $5 million grant by the Vohra Miller Foundation. Sabina Vohra-Miller and her husband Craig Miller launched the foundation in 2020. Vohra-Miller is a clinical pharmacologist and a candidate in the doctor of public health program at the University of Toronto. “Providing families with evidence-based information that is readily available is exceptionally important to me,” Vohra-Miller said in video included in the First Exposure announcement. “This will be undertaken in a very intention approach in to include equity and inclusivity in every aspect of this work, all while being grounded in science and knowledge from a wide range of experts and lived experience.” First Exposure will work with community representatives to further tailor resources to the needs of specific populations, including Indigenous, Black, Asian, LGBTQ2S+, newcomer and disabled persons. The first focus of research will be on pharmaceutical medicines. Then it will expand to include vaccines, home remedies, environmental contaminants and even social determinants of health, Vohra-Miller said. First Exposure will use data previously held at the Hospital for Sick Children through the Motherisk clinical pharmacology and toxicology program, Dolovich said. “It is building on a component of the Motherisk program and taking it on in a new way to translate that information that was held in the data so everyone can use it.” The Motherisk program was discontinued in 2019 due to funding, which decreased after concerns about the quality of work carried out in a hair analysis laboratory that also carried the Motherisk name. Read: Even mild COVID-19 during pregnancy leads to increased likelihood of preterm birth

Safe to take? New UofT program to provide info on exposures to medicines in pregnancy and lactation

Register for free access or login.

Related Topics