Abstract
The Internet reveals web sites containing much therapeutic drug information from the manufacturer’s point of view, for consumer information and for research. General information sites include www.drugs.com, www.wikipedia.org, www.rxlist.com, and www.webMD. WebMd provides a wealth of information on each drug and also a fact or fiction and medications quiz, take a checkup related to the organ site, and recent news on the subject. Other top spots include Medline Plus http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ drug-information.html, drugs at FDA http://www.accessdata.fdagov/scripts/cder/drugsatfda/, www.webmd.com, and www.medicinenet.com. The Health Research Group web site includes http://www.citizen.org/hrg/ and Worst Pills-Best Pills information http://www.worstpills.org/. The NIH site, Medline Plus, includes links to information on various health topics, drugs and supplements, a medical encyclopedia, and dictionary. www.pdr.net is an excellent site but only if you can register as a physician, medical student, dentist, optometrist or nurse. Thus, our STP physician members should have no problem in registering. Veterinarians need not apply; I know, I tried.
More recent additions to the web world of drug information are clinical trials web sites, including http://clinicaltrials.gov/, http://www.centerwatch.com/, http://clinicaltrials.mayo.edu/ and http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials. NCI’s site lists over 5,000 trials. An amazing amount of information and hope can be found. A friend of our family recently got into an NCI cancer clinical trial, received free treatment and personal care over a 6-month period, and remains disease free 1 year later. The NCI physicians were so gracious that they even gave the patient a DVD (at my request for me) with our friend’s entire body MRI scans before and after the months of therapy. Not only can one identify all body organs but the location of the cancer and its disappearance after therapy. Impressive stuff!
For specific prescription drugs, especially commonly prescribed medications, each medication may have its own web site, usually sponsored by the pharmaceutical company. The product insert (prescribing information) is often included online. For example, for plavix.com, a wealth of information for consumers and health professionals can be found. The insert contains information for drug description, clinical pharmacology, clinical studies, indications and usage, contraindications, warnings, precautions, adverse reactions, overdosage, dosage and administration, and how supplied. Brief information on Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, and Impairment of Fertility including comparative plasma levels in rodent carcinogenesis studies and human clinical doses are provided. Of course, many details for this type of information is not published in the open literature but remains proprietary and in FDA’s files.
MedWatch, the FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program (http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/ index.html) allows anyone to submit reports on potential adverse drug effects. It also provides Safety Alerts for Drugs, Biologics, Devices, and Dietary Supplements.
It is highly recommended that if you, a friend, or relative, is taking a pharmaceutical, go online and find a wealth of information on it. You will be greatly informed, moreso than from your own physician. This information can also be used for your research and education.