Sources of Pharmaceutical

information
 Knowledge is of two types. We know a

subject ourselves, or we know where we can

find information upon it

Samuel Jonson
 Information is changing
 Medicines information is always changing

 The pharmacist must be able to retrieve,

analyze and communicate medical and
professional practice information, if society is
to benefit from the existence of the profession
 Nature of information
 Literature is vast and complex

 Medical literature is growing rapidly in size, it

is also increasingly complex
 Great challenges are being faced by this
profession today
 Sources of information
 Primary sources

 Secondary sources

 Ternary resources
 Primary sources
 Journals - key players: BMJ (British Medical
Journal)
 Publisher: Elsevier
 Publishers’ search engine: Science Direct
 Database: Medline
 Journals
 International Journal of Pharmaceutics

 European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology

 European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 European Journal of Pharmacology
 Data bases
 EMBASE. Elsevier, producer: biomedical literature

 MEDLINE. National Library of Medicine, producer.

(PubMed)
 Ovid MEDLINE
 Secondary sources
 Regulatory Bodies

 Associations
 Public websites
 Regulatory bodies
 FDA (Food and drug administration)

 EMEA (European Medicines Agency)

 MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products

Regulatory Agency)
 NMPB (National Medicinal Plants Boards)
 Associations
 International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)
• http://www.fip.org/

 Sudanese pharmacists union

• http://www.sudanpharmacistscpd.org/home/info.sh
tml
 Public websites
 http://www.who.int

 www.pharmweb.net

 http://www.incb.org/

 http://www.medicinescomplete.com

 http://www.pharmpress.com/

 http://www.drugs.com

 http://www.mims.co.uk/
 Ternary sources
 Textbooks

“An hour spent in the

library is worth a month in
the laboratory.”
 Textbooks
 Pharmacopeias (BP, USP, ….)
 Martindale: Complete drug reference
 National formularies (BNF, SNF, ….)

 Basic & Clinical Pharmacology by Katzung. Previously Goodman

and Gilman's the Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics (use to be
known as bible of pharmacology)
 The Merck Index: an Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and
biologicals
 SNF
 Sudan National formulary

 SNF is a reference book that lists all APIs routinely

stocked in the Sudan
 It gives the dosage form of all medicines, their
indications, contraindications, precautions on use,
and comments on the diseases on which they are
used.
Thank You