Morocco makes it easier to report a bad reaction to a medicine

A drug approval is not the end of the safety story. It is the start of the part that regulators can see least. Morocco's Medicines and Health Products Agency (AMMPS) is betting that a phone and a web form can change that, and the bet is overdue.

On Wednesday in Rabat, the agency launched VigiMobile and VigiUp, two digital channels for reporting suspected adverse events linked to health products. VigiMobile is a mobile app for medicines and vaccines. VigiUp covers everything else: medical devices, in vitro diagnostic reagents, cosmetics, personal hygiene products and dietary supplements.

Both are accessible through the AMMPS website. Patients, healthcare professionals, and companies that manufacture, import or distribute health products can all file reports. Online reporting is open around the clock. Paper forms still exist, but users must download the document, complete it and email it to the address printed on the form. That is a lot more effort than tapping a screen.

How does it work?

A report submitted through either platform goes to the National Center for Health Vigilance and Risk Management. The center monitors and analyzes product risks after they reach the market, looking for patterns that a single clinic or a single patient would never spot.

The split between the two tools is practical. Medicines and vaccines have their own reporting channel in the app. Devices, diagnostics, cosmetics and supplements, which have historically had less visibility in safety systems, go through VigiUp. So a patient who reacts badly to a skin cream and a nurse who sees a faulty device now have a clear place to go.

The launch took place during Med Safety Week 2026, an international campaign running from November 2 to 8 under the slogan "Adverse events, don't ignore them, report them." A panel at the ceremony covered how clinicians can identify and report events. The agency is also running university outreach for future health professionals and local activities with Regional Vigilance Centers.

Why does it matter?

Because the existing system has real holes. A 2025 study in Drug Safety assessed pharmacovigilance across 30 Moroccan university hospitals. Electronic reporting to the national center was used in just one. Seven hospitals, or 23%, had no established pharmacovigilance activity or only very basic work. Two of the four university hospital centers with established monitoring were underreporting to the central database.

Earlier research points to familiar reasons: time pressure, uncertainty about what counts as reportable, fear of consequences, and no feedback after a report is filed. An app solves the first problem. It does not automatically solve the others.

Health and Social Protection Minister Youns Bjijou, in remarks read by ministry Secretary-General Abdelkrim Meziane Belfkih, called for stronger reporting practices and closer coordination between national and regional health actors. AMMPS Director General Samir Ahid said monitoring must continue after marketing authorization, with early risk detection. Both are right. But the test is whether reporters hear back and whether hospitals actually use the tools.

The context

This is part of a wider digital push at the agency. On March 31, the AMMPS launched TARKHISS to digitize regulatory procedures for health products, starting with cosmetics and personal hygiene products. The World Health Organization has also credited digital reform with improving Morocco's mortality data system.

The direction matches what is happening across the Gulf and the wider Arab region. Saudi Arabia under Vision 2030 and the UAE through its national digital health strategies have pushed electronic reporting and unified health records, partly to make safety data usable in real time. Regulators in the GCC face the same problem Morocco does: a good reporting system is worthless if clinicians do not use it.

For manufacturers and importers, the message is also clear. Companies can report through these channels, and regulators will expect them to. Post-market vigilance is becoming a daily obligation, not a paperwork exercise. Morocco has built the door. Now it has to get people to walk through it.