UNICOM has already welcomed the active involvement of the WHO Collaborating Centre UMC (Uppsala Monitoring Centre, Uppsala, Sweden) on questions related to the identification of substances in a pharmacovigilance context.   

UNICOM is now also delighted to associate to its work the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology (the ATC/DDD Centre) Oslo, Norway in charge of the ATC/DDD methodology. The centre will be invited to participate to all internal events related to the use of standards.

The major Standard Development Organisations (SDOs) present in the UNICOM consortium consider that the WHO Family of International Classifications, including the ATC classification for medicines, have a certain role to play. 

The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification is actively used in the European Member States and is currently the main reference in the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) cross-border implementation of services such as e-prescription and patient summary. It should have its place within the current IDMP implementation, for the purposes for which it is intended.  

The Director of the ATC/DDD Centre welcomed the outreach of the UNICOM Project towards the Centre and has confirmed the interest of maintaining the link between ATC and more granular global identification of medicinal products.  

The Centre in Oslo is also actively cooperating with the WHO INN Programme and the UMC in relationship with the activities connected to the WHODrug portfolio. UNICOM considers that the involvement of these WHO competence centres in the project outputs increases its chances of success. 

About the ATC/DDD Centre, Oslo  

The WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology Centre is located in Oslo at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and funded by the Norwegian government. In collaboration with WHO, the Centre develops and maintains the ATC/DDD methodology. The purpose of the methodology is to serve as a tool for drug utilization monitoring and research in order to improve quality of drug use. One component of this is the presentation and comparison of drug consumption statistics at international and other levels.