Better Safety Info in Pregnancy Starts with Your Referral
Prescription medications and vaccines currently come to market with little to no information on the safety of the product when used in human pregnancy. This leaves health providers like you in a bind when treating pregnant patients and female patients of reproductive potential. MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies are rigorously designed cohort studies that aim to provide critically needed product safety information – and your patient referrals make all the difference.
“Counseling people who are pregnant and/or breastfeeding regarding the risks or safety of drug treatments is often complicated by a lack of information about the nature, magnitude, or even existence of a teratogenic risk in humans.”
— Adam et al., 2011
Our Pregnancy Studies Depend on Health Providers Like You
We’re studying a variety of medications, maternal health conditions, and vaccines. Here’s a list of ongoing studies for which we’re currently accepting patient referrals.
Health Condition
Medication or Vaccine
No Longer Enrolling
Refer Now
Referring your patient is fast and simple. Just fill out our Refer a Patient form and our experienced research team will take it from there to contact your patient and tell them more about the study. You can also call us to take your referral by phone toll-free at 877.311.8972. We’re open Monday – Thursday from 7am-7pm Pacific and Friday 7am-6pm Pacific, excluding public holidays.
The Power of Your Patient Referral
We understand the challenges that you face when deciding on treatment courses when your patient is pregnant. The goal of MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies is to provide you with the scientific evidence that is needed so you can better weigh the risks and benefits to person who is pregnant and their pregnancy, thus allowing you to identify a treatment plan that maximizes disease management and minimizes maternal and fetal/infant risk. Our research has been instrumental in identifying previously unrecognized human teratogens as well as ruling out substantial risk for other medications and vaccines – and these studies would not have been possible without health providers like you who referred their patients.
Your patients trust you with good reason – after all, you have their health interests as your top priority. We find that when people who are pregnant and/or breastfeeding are referred to us by their trusted health provider – whether their OB/GYN or a specialist – they are more likely to participate in our studies. By taking the time to refer your patient, you are helping us generate data that will lead to improved product safety information in pregnancy, thereby providing you and your patients with the evidence you need to make more informed treatment decisions.
The results of our studies are published in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals and presented at scientific meetings. Our results can also be used to update the product label, and they are incorporated into resources that are widely used by clinicians and/or patient populations for information on pregnancy and lactation exposures, including our own MotherToBaby fact sheets as well as LactMed (National Library of Medicine), Reprotox, and TERIS. Last but most certainly not least, both study participants and their referring providers are sent a summary of our findings and a PDF of any publications.
“Enrolling your patients in a pregnancy exposure registry can help improve safety information for medicines used during pregnancy and can be used to update drug labeling.”
— U.S. Food & Drug Administration: Pregnancy Registry Information for Health Professionals
When Your Patients Look to You, You Can Look to Us
MotherToBaby is dedicated to providing evidence-based information about medications and other exposures during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. In addition to our pregnancy studies, we have a dedicated team to provide no-cost teratogen information services tailored to the needs of both health professionals and people who are pregnant and/or breastfeeding. People who are pregnant and/or breastfeeding who enroll as participants into our studies benefit from one-on-one access to our experts and the piece of mind that knowledge and increased monitoring brings to their pregnancy.
Answers to Commonly Asked Questions
Our studies observe people who are pregnant and/or breastfeeding already exposed to certain medicines or vaccines or who have been diagnosed with specific conditions.
Will my patient be asked to take a medication or change their treatment plan?
No. Our studies are strictly observational; your patient will not be asked to change any part of their health care routine, including their medications.
My patient has recently become pregnant and has been exposed to a medication/vaccine you are studying. What should I do first?
All patients who become pregnant while taking a study medication or who have a health condition of interest (regardless of how it is being treated) should be referred to our research team by calling 1.877.311.8972 or completing our online referral form.
My patient who is pregnant hasn’t been exposed to a medication/vaccine you are studying. Can they participate in one of your studies?
Potentially yes. Most of our studies also enroll people into comparison groups. Refer your patient to us by calling 1.877.311.8972 or completing our online referral form, and we’ll screen them to see if they qualify.
If my patient enrolls, what will I be required to do?
All you need to do is refer your patient to us. People self-enroll, so after you make the referral nothing further is required from you.
Do you have materials I can use to educate my patients or colleagues about your studies?
Yes! We can provide you with patient-friendly materials for your office, such as brochures (in English & Spanish), a fact sheet about Pregnancy Study Participation and referral cards that you can hand to your patients. We also have informational materials for other healthcare providers. Health providers can order materials by visiting our Material Request Form or by contacting our Research Team via email at MotherToBaby@health.ucsd.edu.
See our complete list of Frequently Asked Questions for Healthcare Providers.
About MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies
MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies are ongoing observational studies– known as pregnancy studies or pregnancy registries—to track the effects of certain medications, vaccines, and health conditions on pregnancy and infant outcomes. MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies are conducted by the non-profit Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS), the nation’s leading authority on the benefits and risks of medications and other exposures during pregnancy and lactation. They are coordinated under the leadership of Christina Chambers, PhD, MPH, a perinatal epidemiologist and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California San Diego’s School of Medicine in the Center for Better Beginnings. With over 20 years of excellence running pregnancy studies, our extensive experience and robust team provide rigorously designed cohort studies to aid the scientific study of exposures during pregnancy and provide much-needed information on teratogenic risk to healthcare partners.
Refer a Patient to Our Studies
Better medication safety information are needed to make informed treatment decisions for pregnant patients.
