FINDING RELIABLE INFORMATION ABOUT DRUGS

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FINDING RELIABLE INFORMATION ABOUT DRUGS

• Svetla Baykoucheva
• White Memorial Chemistry Library
• Life Sciences Chemistry Team Seminar
• May 17, 2006

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Seminar Discussion Topics

• Why is it important to find reliable sources of
  information about drugs
• Who are the main players in drug information and
  their agendas
• Which sources should be scrutinized
• Major scientific databases providing drug
  information
• Analyzing the information

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Types of Reports

• Review articles present what is known to date
  about a disease and may focus on the cause,
  diagnosis, treatment or other aspects of a
  disease.
• Basic science or laboratory research articles
  present original "basic science" or "laboratory"
  research.
• Case reports describe and discuss the clinical
  aspects of a disease and may also present unusual
  or unexpected cases.
• Articles discussing treatment focus on the
  effects of various treatments that have been
  tested or used in a specific disease in humans
  some of the more common studies include clinical
  trials, case-control studies, cohort studies and
  case reports.

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Types of Reports (Cont.)

• Human studies with negative outcomes (no benefit
  or causing side effects)
• Those with positive/beneficial outcomes
• Studies on the safety of a particular treatment
  they do not directly address whether the
  treatment was actually deemed to have had a
  beneficial effect. The treatment discussed may be
  already in use, or it may be experimental and not
  widely available (or not available at all)

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Drug Information Free Resources

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  MedlinePlus, PubMed, Toxnet, PubChem, Clinical
  Trials
• Academic and non-profit organizations Web sites
• The Merck Manuals (some are free)
• Google/Google Scholar
• Blogs / Discussion Groups
• Scirus (A search engine from Elsevier)
• Pharmaceutical Companies Web sites
• Open Access scientific journals

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Drug Information Paid Sources

• SciFinder Scholar (Chemical Abstracts Service,
  American Chemical Society)
• DiscoveryGate (Elsevier/MDL)
• Scientific journals published by commercial and
  non-profit organizations
• Lexis-Nexis (Elsevier)
• Factiva (Dow Jones Reuters)

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The Disease Mongering Phenomenon
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Emphasizing the Bad Effects of Cholesterol
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Real Facts about Cholesterol

• Occurs naturally in the body synthesized mostly
  in the liver or obtained from food
• It is the most common organic chemical in the
  brain
• Vitally important for the functioning of every
  cell- essential to formation of synapses that
  allow nerve cells to communicate
• Precursor of all the steroid hormones, including
  estrogen and testosterone and stress and blood
  sugar regulating corticosteroids
• More information about cholesterol can be found
  at
• http//www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/cholesterol
  .html

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Cholesterol is an Important Component of All
Human Cells
http//www.biocrawler.com/encyclopedia/Cell_membra
ne
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What Can Affect Cholesterol Levels

• Cholesterol levels in the body are tightly
• regulated and can depend on the following
  factors
• Genetic predisposition
• Life style and diet
• Age
• Total cholesterol vs LDL vs HDL
• Inhibiting the synthesis of cholesterol with
  lipid-lowering drugs (e.g., statins)

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Independent Studies on Statins
Effectshttp//medicine.ucsd.edu/ses/
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CONCLUSIONS

• Educate yourself about the potential side effects
  of any medication before taking it this is
  particularly important if a drug needs to be
  taken over a long period of time.
• Scrutinize the sources of information and be
  aware of a concerted effort by organizations with
  vested interest in selling drugs to promote their
  products.
• Discuss with your physician the information that
  you have obtained before taking or stopping a
  drug let the physician know what other
  medications you are taking.
• Try to better understand your health condition
  and change your life style before using
  medications.