Main description:

Medical treatments designed to help people can also be harmful or fatal. Around 2.5 million people die this way each year. So if any kind of medicine makes someone unwell, they or their doctor should report it. Those reports, from nearly every country in the world, go to the Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) in Sweden.
As the Centre's first director, Professor Ivor Ralph Edwards transformed it from a tiny operation with limited horizons into an internationally acclaimed scientific organization at the heart of the World Health Organization's Programme for International Drug Monitoring. He was then succeeded by his wife, Dr Marie Lindquist.
This is the story of how a new science developed and a passionate and dedicated pursuit of worldwide medicines safety, with an unerring focus on the welfare of patients. The pioneering work of Ralph, Marie and their collaborators on every continent protected the lives of millions of people. It may yet improve the lives of billions more.

Contents:

Chapter 01. The science, the Director and the Centre. The voyage to medicines safety. A unique vision. Made in Sweden. Going global.- Chapter 02. A man changed by medicine. Just do it, Ralph. Learning for life. Forged in the City of Steel. Doctor Fixer. A new Africa. The whole world in two islands.- Chapter 03. Making medicines safer. Forging ahead. A deep, dark mystery. The problems with drugs. Science and sharing. From analogue to AI. Pillars of wisdom. Doctor WHO.- Chapter 04. Continuing the quest. Change at the top. A noble cause. A safer future?.- Chapter 05. Present vision. Back to Africa. The view from Gothenburg.