Adverse Medicine Events Line

Sometimes medicines, including vaccines, have unexpected and undesirable side effects. The AME Line provides consumers with an avenue for reporting and discussing adverse experiences with medicines. Call the AME Line if you suspect that your medicine is causing a problem and you’re worried about using it. The AME Line provides independent, accurate and evidence-based information.

Call 1300 134 237 from anywhere in Australia.

Hours of operation: Monday–Sunday 8am–8pm AEDT/AEST (excluding NSW public holidays).

The AME Line is not for emergencies

If you have concerns about your medicines arising from an overdose or suspected poisoning, call the Poisons Information Centre, 24 hours a day on 13 11 26. For general emergencies call 000.

You can call to discuss any side effects that might be due to your:

• prescription medicines
  
• over-the-counter medicines (e.g. pain relievers and cold medication)
  
• complementary medicines (vitamins, minerals, herbal or natural medicines)
  
• vaccines.

It helps you and it helps others. Early detection can reduce the impact of side effects. Talking to the AME Line pharmacists can help identify if your experiences are related to your medicines. If your side effects appear to be medicine related, we will refer you back to your doctor to discuss the options available to you. Medicine-related side effects are reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for assessment and contribute to national medicine safety efforts. Your personal information will remain confidential and your privacy maintained.

Medicines reports made to the TGA can be viewed on their publicly accessible database, the Database of Adverse Event Notifications (DAEN). This database includes adverse event reports about prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines and complementary medicines (vitamins, minerals, herbal or natural medicines), and vaccines.

The DAEN contains reports submitted by individuals, health professionals, manufacturers and suppliers of medicines. The database does not contain all known safety information about a particular medicine, so conclusions about its safety should not be made based on the information in the DAEN.

Reporting helps others because it helps build a more accurate picture of the side effects caused by a medicine. New medicines are tested before they are approved for sale in Australia, but some side effects may not show up until more people have taken the medicine. 

Your call will be answered by NPS MedicineWise pharmacists. The AME Line is funded by the Department of Health.

Any information we collect from you will be collected, stored and used in accordance with the National Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988. Read our Privacy policy.