title: A Collaborative Assessment Among 11 Pharmaceutical Companies of Misinformation in Commonly Used Online Drug Information Compendia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Online drug information compendia (ODIC) are valuable tools that health care professionals (HCPs) and consumers use to educate themselves on pharmaceutical products. Research suggests that these resources, although informative and easily accessible, may contain misinformation, posing risk for product misuse and patient harm.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Evaluate drug summaries within ODIC for accuracy and completeness and identify product-specific misinformation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between August 2014 and January 2015, medical information (MI) specialists from 11 pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies systematically evaluated 270 drug summaries within 5 commonly used ODIC for misinformation. Using a standardized approach, errors were identified; classified as inaccurate, incomplete, or omitted; and categorized per sections of the Full Prescribing Information (FPI). On review of each drug summary, content-correction requests were proposed and supported by the respective product's FPI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Across the 270 drug summaries reviewed within the 5 compendia, the median of the total number of errors identified was 782, with the greatest number of errors occurring in the categories of Dosage and Administration, Patient Education, and Warnings and Precautions. The majority of errors were classified as incomplete, followed by inaccurate and omitted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This analysis demonstrates that ODIC may contain misinformation. HCPs and consumers should be aware of the potential for misinformation and consider more than 1 drug information resource, including the FPI and Medication Guide as well as pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies' MI departments, to obtain unbiased, accurate, and complete product-specific drug information to help support the safe and effective use of prescription drug products.
authors.affiliation: Purdue Pharma LP, Stamford, CT, USA Amarita.randhawa@pharma.com.
authors.forename: Amarita S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Randhawa
authors.affiliation: Celgene Corporation, Berkeley Heights, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Olakiitan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Babalola
authors.affiliation: Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc, Global Medical Affairs, Lexington, MA.
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Henney
authors.affiliation: Boehringer Ingelheim, Ridgefield, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC, Raritan, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Sanofi US, Bridgewater, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Meerat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oza
authors.affiliation: Novo Nordisk Inc, Plainsboro, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Chandni
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc, Global Medical Affairs, Lexington, MA.
authors.forename: Anupma S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Randhawa
authors.affiliation: Pfizer Inc, Collegeville, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.affiliation: AbbVie, North Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.affiliation: Novo Nordisk Inc, Plainsboro, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Sherri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: So
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual; D004345:Drug Industry; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010602:Pharmacopoeias as Topic; D055553:Prescription Drugs
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs
keywords: drug information; drug safety; electronic information; internet; medication safety