About Drug Information Leaflets

These Drug Information Leaflets were originally created by NDC Health (now called Cegedim Pharmacy Services Ltd) with review by EMIS, but are now entirely maintained by EMIS Medical Authors and Pharmacists. The database consists of over 800 leaflets which are intended to give the patient information about the medicine they are using. They are written in a style that is easy to read with a consistent format and tell the patient about their medicine and how to take it. Information about precautions, common side effects and storage of medicines is also included since it is assumed that the average reader has no specialist medical/pharmaceutical knowledge.

The details in the leaflets come from a variety of up-to-date information sources which include general medical reference materials, recognised and reliable sources on the internet, and the data supplied by manufacturers (eg the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) and the Patient Information Leaflets (PIL).)

The leaflets are revised regularly, although unscheduled revisions can also occur and are prompted by current affairs, product changes, law changes, new medical findings and customer requests. Drug-related journals are regularly reviewed for new products and changes to existing products. This enables edits to be made to the current leaflets and assists the writing of new ones. The writing of new leaflets is an involved process requiring the acquisition of SPCs and PILs from the electronic Medicines Compendium website.

The new or revised leaflets are sent for peer review to members of the medical profession and also to members of the public to assess for readability, before publishing.