Drugs.com Refutes Erroneous Claims
Tick
adding something undesirable my mix and to even make sure the doctors
haven't missed something. Recently I had a bout of sciatica that put
me down worse than any rodeo wreck I had ever experienced. Without
checking first I added some of the wife's Darvocet to the mix of meds
I already take and it like to put me down for the count. Seems
Darvocet, Tegretol, Baclofen and Neurontin don't work and play well
together. After checking with http://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.php
I learned why. I have often preached about the dangers of taking
other folks prescription drugs and here I found myself doing the same
thing.
Anyway, after reading all I could about my mistake I got in the habit
of scanning the Drug.com blog. I ran across this and found it
interesting enough to pass along.
Tick
---
---
Drugs.com Refutes Erroneous Claims
This week in Washington, D.C. saw the public hearings on promotion of
FDA-regulated medical products using the internet and social media
tools. Drugs.com got a mention and a reference or two by one of the
speakers. People heard, wrote, tweeted, blogged, reported and within
minutes the quote had gone viral on the internet.
The problem is, what got reported wasn’t entirely true. Press releases
were issued that spoke of “user-edited content on sites such as
Drugs.com” and “inaccurate or incomplete information”, “misinformation
or unbalanced information,” and “lack of consistency about the quality
of information on websites like Wikipedia and Drugs.com.”
Firstly, to set the record straight, there is no user-edited drug
information content on Drugs.com. Period. Our drug information content
is derived from a number of well-respected medical publishers
including Cerner Multum, Thomson Reuters – Micromedex, Physicians’
Desk Reference, Wolters Kluwer Health and the FDA. A big thank you to
the editor who quickly recognized and corrected this erroneous claim.
Secondly, “inaccurate or incomplete information” – such a sweeping
statement based on one contentious example. The example on which this
statement is based is the Consumer Information page on the cholesterol-
lowering drug Vytorin. The speaker quoted the information on Drugs.com
as being incomplete because we hadn’t included the phrase “Vytorin has
not been shown to reduce heart attacks or strokes more than Zocor
alone” on our consumer information page.
The speaker appeared to be unaware that we did have this statement
included in the Vytorin information page for health professionals.
The purpose of our Consumer Information is to ensure the safe and
effective use of medicines. Could this statement encourage a patient
to cease taking Vytorin without consulting their healthcare
professional?
We have concluded that this statement was more appropriate for the
prescribing information – it is aimed at the health professional
making the decision about the most appropriate therapy.
We pride ourselves on being a patient-centric website. Our consumer
information is designed for consumers. It is designed to be easy-to-
read and easy-to-understand. Professional information is available as
a handy link when more information is required.
Risks and benefits all come together in what we hope is the best
unbiased consumer drug information there is on the internet. As
pharmacists, we are acutely aware of the need for this information to
be balanced to ensure patient compliance. Too many perceived risks,
and the patient might not take the medicine that may save their life.
So does this statement belong on the Vytorin consumer drug information
page? The debate continues but we have added it for now.
evilzona
> I usehttp://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.phpto make sure I'm not
> adding something undesirable my mix and to even make sure the doctors
> haven't missed something. Recently I had a bout of sciatica that put
> me down worse than any rodeo wreck I had ever experienced. Without
> checking first I added some of the wife's Darvocet to the mix of meds
> I already take and it like to put me down for the count. Seems
> Darvocet, Tegretol, Baclofen and Neurontin don't work and play well
> I learned why. I have often preached about the dangers of taking
> other folks prescription drugs and here I found myself doing the same
> thing.
yep, that was pretty dumb. I concur.