On Wednesday, the US Food and Drug Administration said that the US health officials are all set with plans to review and thoroughly study the safety of drugs taken during pregnancy with the aim to use the data for future regulations and medical practices.

The new study, a result of the fact that there is a substantial lack of clinical trials to determine how drugs affect the pregnant mother and the unborn child, will be carried out by the FDA in association with other researchers. The study will be entitled the Medication Exposure in Pregnancy Risk Evaluation Program.

As shared by the agency, data has revealed that about two-thirds of expecting mothers take at least one prescription drug during their term of pregnancy.

"Results of these studies will provide valuable information for patients and physicians when making decisions about medication during pregnancy", Gerald Dal Pan, Director at the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said.

The program will involved data collected from 11 health plan-affiliated research centers that contain healthcare information for nearly 1 million births over seven years starting 2001.