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The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7177 815-819
8 December 2001

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Medicines Compendium

Timeliness of website

From Mr A. G. W. Paul, MRPharmS

I recently received a mailing from the Pharmaceutical Press announcing the availability of the Medicines Compendium as a book and CD-ROM. The covering letter also refers to the electronic Medicines Compendium website (eMC) which is, "updated in real time". In my experience that is not the case.

I recently accessed the website to refer to a summary of product characteristics that had been announced in the PJ; it was not listed.

In response to an e-mail, I was informed that I could not be given an estimated time of when the SPC would be submitted to the eMC website, because it was "totally reliant on the pharmaceutical companies to submit their SPCs to the website".

Perhaps the Medicines Control Agency or the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry through the code of practice could include a requirement that SPCs must be available on the eMC website on the date that the product is placed on the market.

Alan Paul
Winchester, Hampshire

STEPHEN MOTT, director, Datapharm Communications, replies: The process for pharmaceutical companies to update the eMC about their products is indeed conducted in real-time, ie, there is no delay between a new document being submitted to it being made available to users on the website.

What Mr Paul refers to is the comprehensiveness of the eMC. To this end it is not within the remit of any one body to compel pharmaceutical companies to supply their data. The eMC is a voluntary scheme both in funding and the provision of information (there is no compulsory charge to any company who wishes to submit data).

Most companies willingly and efficiently update their entries in the eMC and we frequently contact those that have not to encourage them to do so.

It has been helpful to us in the past if health professionals advise us of missing documents so that we can take up the issue with the relevant company. Of greater impact is when professionals contact the companies direct and make their feelings known.

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