At 11:07 PM 8/30/96 -0400, you wrote:
>You should know that the PDR is a collection of SELECTED drugs provided by
>manufacturers They have provided descriptions for well over 2,000 products,
>edited and approved by their departments.
>Drugs used for human therapy must be approved by the Food and Drug
>Administration for marketing, but are promoted and advertised by the
>manufacturer in various ways including the PDR.
>
>The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) is the compendium of choice with which
>the pharmaceutical industry must comply. The USP monograph describe
>individual drugs for identity, purity, and potency.
>
>The PDR monographs include the same information that the pharmaceutical
>package drug inserts show, e.g. chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics,
>adverse effects, dosage, etc.
>
>There is also (I believe it's still extant) the United States Pharmacopeia
>Dispensing Information listing individual drugs with type of administration,
>category, precautions, diagnostic interferences, medical problems, patient
>check-ups, side effects, dosing, etc.
>
>Clearly, this volume is designed for the patient, whereas the PDR is the
>title indicates is for the physician, and the USP is for the pharmaceutical
>professional. Of course, there are many compendia for drugs: for instance
>Canada (and provinces) use both the USP and the British Pharmacopeia (BP) to
>enforce the law, whereas the common market countries use their own
>pharmacopeia (BP, Pharmacopeia Scandinavica, etc.) and the more recent
>European Pharmacopeia, which dos not cover as many drugs because the
>monographs therein must be approved by each participating country.
>
>I hope this sheds some light on the subject, and good luck.
>MM
>
DEAR MM,
The PDR is primarily nothing but a bound copy of the inserts which drug
manufacturers are required to supply. I have found that the PDR is an
excellent source of information so long as one keeps the source of
information in perspective. The PDR has a tendency to overstate some
benefits of certain drugs and to unnecessarily scare the uninformed reader
with some side effects---and to understate the more likely side effects
-actually or on account of the jaded feeling gets reading about the rare or
non-existant side effects found in rats feed many times the maximum doseage
for full grown human. I have found that the NURSING96 DRUG HANDBOOK [I
guess we'll see the NURSING97 DRUG HANDBOOK before too long] to be an
excellent source of drug information. The publisher is Springhouse
Corporation, Springhouse Pa. I do not know the cost. It contains practical
info often missing in the PDR. It is arranged by generally intended use
under generic name with proprietory names underneath. It also includes many
drugs not available in the US and non-US names.
WILL JOHNSTON 4049 OAKLAND SCHOOL ROAD
SALISBURY, MD 21804-2716
410-543-0110
Pres A.P.D.A. DelMarVa Chapter
63 Dx1991 Symptoms 1971
