What is the scope of the Drug Information Portal?

We cover over 12,000 drugs from the time that they are in clinical trials, through their FDA approval, and then on to the marketplace.  The coverage includes:

·         Resources hosted by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) such as MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov, DailyMed, and Dietary Supplements Label Database, and HSDB and LactMed as well as outside resources such as Drugs@FDA and AIDSinfo.

·         Drugs with official generic name status such as USAN (United States Adopted Name) or INN (International Nonproprietary Name). 

·         Drugs which have Categories extracted from the NLM MeSH Pharmacological Action data.

We do not cover all experimental drugs, or untested folk remedies if they are not covered by the sources above.

What is the difference between the top menu and the search box?

The pull down menu at the top of the pages guides you to general drug resources such as News and Features, NLM resources, resources by category, and other government resources such as NIH and FDA.  You may use whatever features are available at a particular site, which will open in a separate window.

The search box in the middle of a page uses the drug name you enter to simultaneously search a selected group of these resources for information about that drug.  The results page lists all available resources for a drug, and will open each result in a new window.

What is available on the search results page?

The search results page gives a summary of a drug’s actions, and where to find additional information. 

The Drug Name is usually the official generic name for a drug.  The source of the generic name follows in brackets if available.  Following are acronyms for some of the types of generic names.

·         USAN   United States Adopted Name.

·         INN      International Nonproprietary Name.

·         BAN     British Approved Name.

·         JAN      Japanese Approved Name.

·         DCF     French Approved Name.

Drug names are often structured to give an indication of use.  For example, the ending “azepam” as in Diazepam (Valium) shows that the drug has anti-anxiety activity as you might expect for Valium.  You may browse a table of these generic name stems showing the correspondence of an ending to a drug class.

The Category in the search results page gives the general use for a particular drug and is derived from the NLM MeSH Pharmacological Action (PA) Field.  An example for diazepam is:

Anti-anxiety Agents

If one or more categories are displayed you may search on a selected category to identify other drugs that include this MeSH drug category.  A list of Mesh Pharmacological Actions and their definitions can be viewed by selecting the information button.  If a particular Category is selected, the information button will show its definition.

The Description is a summary of what the drug is, and what it does.  A description is usually taken from the Note field of the NLM MeSH file.  An example for diazepam is:
A Benzodiazepine with anticonvulsant, anxiolytic, sedative, muscle relaxant, and amnesic properties and a long duration of action.  Its actions are mediated by enhancement of GABA activity.  It is used in the treatment of severe anxiety disorders, as a hypnotic in the short-term management of insomnia, as a sedative and premedicant, as an anticonvulsant, and in the management of alcohol withdrawal syndrome.  (From Martindale, The Extra Pharmacopoeia, 30th ed, p589)

MedlinePlus and DailyMed also provide summaries of the use of a drug if they have data for the particular drug that you have searched.

How do I know which resources are most appropriate for my question?

Once you have made a search, a series of hyperlinked resources will appear on the results page.  These are the results of searching these resources for the drug you are interested in.  A help balloon pops up over each resource retrieved when you hold your mouse over the hyperlink.  This help describes the general scope of that resource.  In addition, there is an information button ()that opens a window giving a more complete description.  Clicking on the result’s hyperlink opens a new window with the results from that resource.

Can I use truncation in my searches?

You can use an asterisk (*) to find names that start with a drug name, or contain a drug name.  For instance, ibuprofen* finds drugs that begin with the term “ibuprofen”.  You can also use an asterisk at either or both ends of a term to find text embedded in a drug name. An example is  using *cillin* to find drugs that contain this penicillin ending as part of their name.  You retrieve multiple answers in this case, and may select individual drugs from this list.

What if my drug search doesn’t retrieve anything?

Be sure that you have entered only a drug name and not a sentence such as “I need information about aspirin”.  Entering a name such as “aspirin” in the search box is the proper way of searching the drug portal.

If a name fails to retrieve anything, a spellchecker usually provides a list of similar names.  Be careful in selecting from these, since the names of some drugs with dissimilar effects sound and look the same.  If there is no retrieval at all, you might try an alternative name if you know one.

Generic categories such as “SSRI” (for Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors) or “Cancer Drugs” will not retrieve anything in a drug portal search.  You may be given an opportunity to search these terms in the NLM MedlinePlus system if they retrieve nothing in the Drug Information Portal. 

Can I make a suggestion to add a drug?

We would be glad to take suggestions by email.  E-Mail us at tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov.  Give the name of the drug, its use and any other descriptive information that you have.  All suggested drugs must fit the scope of the Drug Information Portal.

How do I search for Categories?

Once you retrieve a drug record, you may search for the Categories that may be listed in the box below the name by clicking on them.  These will retrieve other drug records that are also categorized in this way.   At the present time you cannot search for categories by using the search box.  It is, however, being considered as a future enhancement of this website.

General drug categories can be searched by using the generic name stem of a drug.  A table of these stems are available.  They may be searched in the name search box by using asterisks for truncation, such as *azepam* to find drug names that correspond to antianxiety drugs such as Lorazepam.