Vigilance System for Food Supplements

VIGIA is a Vigilance System for Food Supplements. Its purpose is the detection, evaluation and prevention of adverse events, related with the consumption of food supplements. Its purpose is to assure the continuous monitoring of food supplements, covering the entire life-cycle, with special focus on the marketing stage, assuring an high degree of protection to consumers, similar to the monitoring of adverse events on drugs (Pharmacovigilance). In order to allow the consumer to easy detect the food supplements integarted within VIGIA, the product package is labeled with the VIGIA logo. VIGIA was developed and implemented by a multi-disciplinary team of health profesionals, including Physicians, Pharmacists and accredited external Experts. This nucleus is responsible for the unbiased and objective registration, analysis and critical evaluation of reported adverse events with food supplements, based on technical and scientific data available on the products.

Since its foundation (1981), LABIALFARMA has evolved till reaching the nowadays relevant position in the area of the phyto-products, food supplements and nutraceutics, developing also an increasing activity in the field of medicines.

LABIALFARMA's success comes guaranteed by the rigor, and quality regarding the offered services and to the importance attributed to the research and development.

We argue that the criteria of efficacy and safety of food supplements and nutraceuticals must be equivalent to that of conventional medicines, although the traditional use of many of the constituents of these products are in most cases an unequivocal proof of its efficacy and safety. We argue that the criteria of efficacy and safety of food supplements and nutraceuticals must be equivalent to that of conventional medicines, although the traditional use of many of the constituents of these products are in most cases an unequivocal proof of its efficacy and safety. It should however be noted that the lack of published clinical evidence does not necessarily mean lack of efficacy and safety. Thus, in situations where the history of traditional use is not always sufficient for the proper establishment of the security aspects and scientific publications available are still scarce proves to be of particular importance a careful selection of all constituents of the products is performed during the early stages of R & D of these products.

Besides the values ​​that react to new activities in the development and manufacture of food supplements and nutraceutical products, LABIALFARMA aware of the importance of quality and safety, aims to go further in monitoring the safety aspects, extending its vigilance to the consumer.