RAPS: Final FDA Guidance on Drug Design Seeks to Reduce Medication Errors

The US Food and Drug Administration has finalized guidance detailing best practices on how to improve a drug\'s container closure system to minimize the risk of medication errors. Medical errors, which include medication errors, are one of the leading causes of preventable death in the US. A report published by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999 found that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year due to medical errors, though other estimates place that figure as much as four times higher. According to the IOM report, roughly 7,000 of those deaths are linked to errors with patients\' medicine.