The Medicines and healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has launched an investigation into a computer glitch, which may have given or denied thousands of patients in England the cholesterol lowering drug, statins.
Pulse magazine reported that a bug in the SystmOne clinical IT software inaccurately assesses a number of patient’s risk for heart disease. As a result, some patients may have been prescribed statins who don’t actually need them.
Approximately 2.5 million people in the UK take statins. It is the first country to make statins available over the counter. The MHRA has notified GPs of errors in the SystmOne clinical IT software since 2009.
