Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Childbearing potential
- Able to become pregnant. Assessed for each patient individually rather than assumed.
- Cumulative dose
- The total amount of medicine taken across the whole course of treatment.
- Isotretinoin
- A strong oral medicine for severe acne, derived from vitamin A, which causes serious harm to an unborn baby.
- Lipids
- Fats in the blood, such as cholesterol, which this medicine can raise.
- Medically supervised pregnancy test
- A pregnancy test done and read by the clinic, not one the patient reports doing at home.
- MHRA
- The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the UK medicines regulator.
- Pregnancy prevention programme
- The set of rules that must be followed, including regular pregnancy tests and contraception, before this medicine can be prescribed.
- Residual risk
- The risk that is left once the existing controls are working.
- Shared care
- An arrangement where two organisations each take responsibility for agreed parts of a patient's treatment.
- Summary of product characteristics (SPC)
- The manufacturer's official document setting out how a medicine must be used and monitored.
- Suicidal ideation
- Thoughts of taking one's own life.
- Teratogenic
- Capable of causing serious abnormality in an unborn baby.
- Two-prescriber agreement
- A second prescriber independently agreeing that treatment is appropriate before it is started.
- Yellow Card scheme
- The official way of reporting a suspected side effect of a medicine to the UK medicines regulator.