Jürgen C. Frölich

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Jürgen Christoph Frölich (* 1939 in Rudolstadt , Thuringia ) is a German specialist and professor of pharmacology . Until his retirement Frölich taught at the Hannover Medical School (MHH), where he was the founder and director of the Institute for Clinical Pharmacology. Frölich caused a sensation and gained notoriety through the publication and discussion of the increased number of deaths from adverse drug effects as well as the appearance and a. in documentaries and political magazines . Frölich is a major co-initiator and pioneer of the development that clinical pharmacology has become a compulsory subject for medical students and drug therapy safety (AMTS) has become a fixed reference value in drug therapy since 2005.

Career and life

After attending school at Osterode am Harz and then studying human medicine , state examination and doctorate at the Free University of Berlin , Frölich began working in pharmacological research in 1964 and was an “Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology” from 1973 and then from 1977 as “Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology” a. a. at Vanderbilt University in Nashville , Tennessee . Frölich returned to Germany and from 1977 became head of the Institute for Clinical Pharmacology at the Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart . In 1984 the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony commissioned Frölich to found an institute for clinical pharmacology at the Hannover Medical School , and he has been its director ever since. Frölich was often called in as an expert in court hearings in cases of blindness, lifelong dialysis, acute kidney failure, life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias or deaths. Frölich works in several specialist organizations, including a. of the Drugs Commission of the German Medical Association (AkdÄ), as a member, expert or chairman.

On March 31, 2004 Frölich retired, but was still a contributor in some TV formats (see Participation in documentaries, political magazines, etc. ). Frölich was a partner in the companies Atheso Arzneimittelicherheit GmbH in Hanover and FBR Arzneimittel in Springe (see "Shareholders at Atheso and FBR Arzneimittel").

Commitment to clinical pharmacology and drug therapy safety

Frölich repeatedly criticized the weaknesses in medical training and advocated the inclusion of clinical pharmacology as a compulsory subject in the curriculum. This was achieved after many years of negotiations with the Federal Ministry of Health : The license to practice medicine now requires medical students to be trained and tested in clinical pharmacology. For many years Frölich repeatedly published and argued numbers, consequences, relationships, causes and remedial options in relation to adverse drug reactions and the resulting deaths and damage, in which he also emphasized the individual patient suffering: "I attach these whole numbers to the deaths and I can show you numerous deaths from adverse drug reactions. I can name individual patients for you. (...) What also depresses me is that there is a great deal of damage from undesirable drug effects, which under certain circumstances can seriously damage the patient for life. ” Frölich also used numerous media for this purpose and also criticized it your own (medical) staff and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. Based on the information from earlier publications by other authors, Frölich told Panorama in 1999 that one had to assume "that 25,000 patients die every year in Germany from adverse drug reactions and that there are 500,000 serious drug-related adverse effects." He later corrected these numbers upwards .

Frölich saw an important factor in solving the problem in resolving insufficient information given the considerable number of drugs and their side effects and interactions. 2001, at the time of the scandal around the blood fat-lowering Baycol , warned Frolich, it must "quickly outdated information about drug safety and proper dosage directly to the practitioner" . To this end, Frölich suggested the “establishment of a comprehensive network of experts who can be reached around the clock” . According to Frölich, everyone needs “access to independent sources of information about medication” . Instead, there is a “broad information deficit” , both physicians and patients, as information (such as specialist information on medicines) is stored “in safes” by the pharmaceutical industry instead of being published on the Internet.

As a reaction to the scandal surrounding the rheumatism drug Vioxx and its withdrawal by the manufacturer, Frölich asked in 2004 that new drugs should be monitored more closely after they had been approved, and saw the doctors' duty: “Doctors must be obliged to deal with every patient they deal with treat new drug, report ” . This is the only way to detect rare side effects at an early stage and avoid deaths.

Establishment of a drug information service

In order to be able to achieve such goals, Frölich worked on the development of a drug information service (AID) or system, which doctors can use to obtain information on individual dosages or interactions and side effects. In 1994 Frölich set up the drug information service AID or the "drug information system" (AIS) at the Hannover Medical School together with the Lower Saxony Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVN). In 2001 he told “Bild der Wissenschaft” in relation to the existing “AID” ​​in Hanover that he would like “that this sets a precedent and that in the foreseeable future leads to a Germany-wide information system, a database with regional competencies.”

The publications and the successes of Fröhlich in Lower Saxony met with open ears at the Drugs Commission of the German Medical Association (AkdÄ) in 1998 and "several participants expressed the desire for widening and general accessibility of a drug information service such as the one that was created in Hanover . " Ultimately, this could be implemented through the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) and the Federal Ministry of Health. Such facilities now exist at numerous institutes for clinical pharmacology. At the Medical University of Hanover, the “AIS” was further expanded to become today's “Medicinal Therapy Information System” (ATIS). Frölich was thus an essential co-initiator of the recent positive developments, for example

  • in 2005 the 1st German Congress for Patient Safety in Drug Therapy . Since 2005, drug therapy safety (AMTS) has become a fixed reference value in the discussion about drug therapy.
  • specified in the “Action Plan to Improve Drug Therapy Safety in Germany” of the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG).
  • The improvement of the "drug therapy safety" (AMTS) also became one of the main goals of the Association of Action Alliance for Patient Safety (APS), which was also founded in 2005 . Corresponding recommendations for action have been issued for the AMTS.
  • the establishment of a first - unique in Germany - professorship for drug safety in 2011 at the Hannover Medical School.

Shareholder in Atheso and FBR Arzneimittel

The development of an "AIS" (optimized as "CPOE-CDS", i.e. CPOE incl. "Clinical decision support", e.g. warning of drug interactions ) as an expert-supported software solution was made by Frölich and numerous representatives of his specialty to achieve appropriate patient safety found imperative in modern drug therapy. This is justified with an enormously large (and increasing) number of drugs and active ingredients plus a corresponding large number of scientific publications that a doctor could not possibly handle in everyday life. Lt. The specialist information provided by manufacturers from industry-financed studies, which are partially or not at all published at will, is inadequate in this regard, a state that has already been criticized by representatives of the German Medical Association's Medicines Commission (AkdÄ).

In addition to the barrier-free provision of information, such a software solution “fed with expert knowledge” and controlled or its further improvement continues to be part of the requirements in the “AMTS 2013-14 Action Plan”. The aim and working principle of the system is to use the software to administer medication intended by a doctor in the event of specific illnesses and intolerances (e.g. allergies), etc. a. to critically compare age-related specific metabolic activities as well as side effects, interactions and dosages of the medication and, if necessary, issue warnings and adapted dose recommendations. In this respect, there is also the need to combine the expert knowledge of pharmacologists with the know-how of software developers, a circumstance that for a long time did not result in qualitative systems being available on the market.

In 2003, Fröhlich described the AIS system developed at MHH as immature, but the system was still a novelty. Fröhlich developed the system further. From July 2005 to September 2008 Frölich was the authorized signatory of Atheso Arzneimittel Sicherheit GmbH in Hanover. Atheso GmbH sold the drug information system “AIS” (CPOE-CDS, see above) developed by Frölich at the Hannover Medical School for drug therapy safety (AMTS) under the name “TheraOpt” . In 2009, the company ID GmbH & Co. KGaA , the market leader in the industry, announced the takeover of the TheraOpt system and integration into its own systems; Atheso GmbH no longer exists. "TheraOpt" is sold by ID GmbH to providers of hospital information systems (HIS). Since Frölich began to use the TheraOpt system "AIS", which he had largely developed himself over many years , commercially from 2005 , but also continued to express criticism via TV of what he considered to be the often inadequate advice in pharmacies, Fröhlich was caught in the crossfire Pharmacist criticism.

Frolich made in 2012 as the sole shareholder of the company FBR Arzneimittel GmbH in Springe again independently , the company was in 2014 in the insolvency proceedings.

Publication of increased death rates

In 2003 Frölich published the number of 58,000 deaths in Hanover, with this referring exclusively to internal medicine and chronic damage such as dialysis in a factor of 1:20: “For every death caused by incorrect medication, there are 20 cases in which the patients suffer all their lives. If you then have to go to dialysis three times a week because of incorrect treatment, your life is spoiled, ” Frölich told the Berliner Zeitung . The basis for the physician's calculations is a Norwegian study by internist Just Ebbesen and colleagues, the results of which, according to Frölich, can be directly transferred to Germany. For two years, the team around Ebbesen observed 14,000 patients and examined their blood for active substances before and after death. 571 of the total of 732 dead were autopsied. On the basis of the results of the investigation, an independent commission of clinical pharmacologists and internists determined that 133 of the 732 deceased had been prescribed incorrectly dosed or mixed medication and died as a result of these medications. According to the experts, 66 of these cases could have been avoided. That was "five times as much as previously assumed," said Frölich.

“We assume that in the internal medicine departments alone, 58,000 patients per year die from adverse drug reactions. That is a small part of all hospital admissions that take place, and that is a small part of all deaths that actually occur due to drugs. (...) We have to consider that about ten percent of the hospital stay is caused by adverse drug reactions; that five percent of hospital admissions are due to adverse drug reactions, and in the departments where older patients are - and this is the case in almost all of our internal medicine departments - fifteen percent of hospital admissions are due to adverse drug effects. You have to keep that in mind! It is the most common illness there is! (...) I attach these whole numbers to the deaths and I can show them numerous deaths from adverse drug reactions. I can name individual patients for you. (...) What also depresses me a lot is that there is a great deal of damage from adverse drug reactions, which under certain circumstances can seriously damage the patient for life. "

- Jürgen C. Frölich : Schütz , Koßmann : Tödliche Pillen , SWR , 2004.

The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices previously assumed 8,000 to 16,000 deaths per year due to too high or too low a dosage or an incorrect combination of drugs, of which, according to Frölich, “only 1,700 are officially registered”. However, extrapolations from US figures already resulted in around 25,000 deaths in Germany. Based on past figures were "voluntary reporting" by doctors at the Federal Institute, said Frolich the Berliner Zeitung: "And of course it is for a physician always unpleasant to admit that his patient has died of prescribed him medication." "Nevertheless, In case of doubt, it is always the disease that causes the patient to die. ” In the documentary" Tödliche Pillen "(2004) it was also discussed and justified that therefore“ drug botch is covered up every day ”. Frölich showed this on the basis of an exemplary study at the Magdeburg University Hospital (emergency room).

J. Schnurrer and Frölich published a large proportion of these deaths (around 28,000 of the 58,000) and further cases of damage that could be avoided and were due to medical errors and ignorance in the calculation. Since the numbers were initially much lower, the number caused a sensation and led to controversial discussions. Some colleagues considered Frölich to be polluting the nest , but later got support from colleagues like Bruno Müller-Oerlinghausen .

Activities in specialist organizations

editor

  • Clinical pharmacology
  • Practical herbal therapy
  • Care manual for medicinal therapy
  • Plasma level - relationship between the effects of pharmaceuticals

Participation in documentaries , political magazines, etc.

  • Thomas Berndt and Christian Kossin: "Fatal side effects - 20,000 victims due to drugs", Panorama , June 24, 1999, 9:15 pm.
  • Erich Schütz, Detlev Koßmann: “ Deadly Pills ” Part 1 in the 3-part SWR series “The Health Trap”. Broadcast date: July 15, 2004, 8:15 p.m. on Phoenix .
  • Theo Koll et al. a .: "Dangerous pill cocktails - drug interactions" (broadcast subtitle). In: Frontal21 , episode 272 of May 20, 2008.
  • Norbert Lehmann, Stefan Orthmann u. a .: “Beware of risks and side effects - how good is advice really provided in pharmacies?” (broadcast subtitle). In: "ZDF.Reporter", broadcast on April 23, 2009,
  • Stefan Orthmann u. a. in: “Lower Saxony 19.30”, NDR, June 2008 (pharmacy test).

Awards

  • 1967–1968 Robert A. Welch Foundation "Post Doctoral Fellowship"
  • 1970–1972 Research Grant, German Research Foundation (stay at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA)
  • 1973 Pfizer Traveling Fellow, Montreal, Canada
  • 1976 Burroughs-Welcome Visiting Professor, St. Louis, USA

Honors

  • Honorary member of the German Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapy eV

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vita at the International Prevention Organization (IPO) ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 4, 2018 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / internationale-praevention-organisation.org
  2. ↑ MHH pioneer in clinical pharmacology. Professor Dr. Jürgen C. Frölich retired , names and news - MHH Info June / July 2004
  3. ↑ Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (idw), names and news of the Hannover Medical School, March / April 2004
  4. ↑ MHH pioneer in clinical pharmacology. Professor Dr. Jürgen C. Frölich retired , names and news - MHH Info June / July 2004
  5. ↑ Quote from the documentation "Tödliche Pillen", 2004
  6. ↑ Thomas Berndt and Christian Kossin: "Fatal side effects - 20,000 victims through drugs" In: Panorama (ARD) , June 24, 1999, 9:15 pm
  7. ↑ Thousands of unnecessary deaths , Bild der Wissenschaft, December 1, 2001
  8. ↑ a b c The illness is not always to blame . In: Berliner Zeitung , August 27, 2003.
  9. ↑ Claudia Ehrenstein: “Vioxx was considered safe to the end” In: Berliner Morgenpost, October 12, 2004. Alternative link to Worldnews.com due to the payment barrier: Vioxx was considered safe until the end
  10. ↑ Thorwald Ewe: "Thousands of unnecessary deaths" In: Bild der Wissenschaft, December 1, 2001
  11. ↑ JC Frölich, M. Lumpe, DO Stichtenoth: "Medicinal information, a field of responsibility of clinical pharmacology" . In: Current Arzneitherapie, 1998, pp. 23-26 (25-28).
  12. ↑ B. Müller-Oerlinghausen: "Discussion" . In: Current drug therapy, 1998, p. 42 (45).
  13. ↑ Medicinal Information Services of the Institutes for Clinical Pharmacology , on the AkdÄ website, accessed December 22, 2015
  14. ↑ Drug Therapy Information System (ATIS) , Hannover Medical School
  15. ↑ 4th German Congress for Patient Safety in Drug Therapy ebm-netzwerk.de, 2012, accessed on February 25, 2015.
  16. ↑ Brief portrait of the APS eV
  17. ↑ "Drug Therapy Safety in Hospitals" - APS eV recommendations for action ( Memento of the original dated December 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.aps-ev.de
  18. ↑ Professorship for drug safety set up exclusively in Germany at the MHH for the first time ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. MHH press release of May 4, 2011, accessed on February 25, 2015.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mh-hannover.de
  19. ↑ AMTS Action Plan of the Federal Ministry of Health 2013-15, pp. 4–5 etc. ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.akdae.de
  20. ↑ "AMTS software is being expanded", medical newspaper for the Medica trade fair on November 20, 2009
  21. ^ "Medicinal advice through the computer", Deutschlandfunk, August 25, 2003 , accessed on December 24, 2015.
  22. ^ Atheso Arzneimittelicherheit GmbH, register announcements on Jürgen Frölich
  23. ↑ "ID Berlin does TheraOpt® - Strengthening of drug therapy safety" , healthtechwire.de 20 October, 2009
  24. ↑ Philip Graetzel: Pharmacies tester on the Kieker, DocCheck, May 8th 2009
  25. ↑ New entry in the commercial register, file number: HRB 209073 , accessed on December 23, 2015.
  26. ↑ http://insolnet.de/Verfahren.aspx?VID=183774240 insolnet.de FBR Arzneimittel GmbH, accessed December 23, 2015
  27. ↑ Schnurrer J, Frölich J. On the frequency and avoidability of fatal adverse drug reactions . Internist 2003; 44: 889-95.
  28. ^ J. Ebbesen et al .: Drug-related deaths in a department of internal medicine . In: Arch Intern Med. , 2001 Oct 22, 161 (19), pp. 2317-223, PMID 11606147
  29. ↑ Frölich 2001 in: "Lipobay - a new drug scandal?" Interview in Lifeline - the health portal, quoted in: Thomas Gerlinger: "Quality, quality defects and quality assurance", subtitle: "Particular problem groups". In: Federal Institute for Civic Education , March 1, 2012.
  30. ↑ Deutsches Ärzteblatt 1998; 95 (50): A-3233 / B-2597 / C-2349
  31. ^ "Fatal side effects - 20,000 victims due to drugs" Film text with original sound in the Panorama Archive, accessed December 22, 2015
  32. ^ ZDF yearbook, program chronicle Frontal21, 2008
  33. ^ ZDF yearbook, program chronicle ZDF.Reporter, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Frölich, Jürgen C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frölich, Jürgen Christoph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German specialist and professor of pharmacology
DATE OF BIRTH 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Rudolstadt , Thuringia