title: Comparing drug classification systems.
abstract: An essential quality of drug classification systems is the ability to assign medications to a structured hierarchy for categories such as mechanism of action, physiological effects, and therapeutic indications. No single classification system can meet all of these needs; however, there should be consistency among those that group by the same underlying principals. We discovered discrepancies in how drugs with multiple therapeutic indications are classified among four widely used schemas.
authors.affiliation: Siemens Healthcare, Malvern, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahoney
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D004346:Drug Information Services; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000145:classification*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000145:classification*; D013810:Therapeutic Equivalency; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations