The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7459 p27
7 July 2007

Trustworthy, affordable and practical source of drug interaction information

‘Stockley’s drug interactions 2007 pocket companion’, edited by Karen Baxter. Pp 544. Price £21.95. London: Pharmaceutical Press; 2006. ISBN 0 85369 701 9

Homer warned over three millennia ago that “many drugs were excellent when mingled and many were fatal”. Sadly, drug interactions continue to cause avoidable patient morbidity and mortality. ‘Stockley’s drug interactions 2007 pocket companion’ seeks to provide concise, accurate and clinically relevant information to health care professionals. There has been inevitable pruning of the nearly 3,000 interactions listed in the standard edition of ‘Stockley’s’. Specialised medication and non-interactions are mostly out as, too, are the references on which judgements are based. Usefully, herb-drug and drug-food interactions are included.

Arranged alphabetically by drug, or drug group, the book has no need for an index. The book is easy to use, with clear formatting and typesetting. An intuitive rating system enables quick evaluation of whether a reaction is significant or not.

This guide pitches itself at a midway point between the brevity of the BNF and the comprehensiveness of the full ‘Stockley’s’, with, arguably, clearer advice on management of particular reactions than either.

Fewer people wear laboratory coats these days, with a corresponding loss of pocket space. Whether this book will be carried with the BNF to wards is debatable: a personal digital assistant could be of more use. But new prescribers and those who require a trustworthy, affordable and practical source of drug interaction information should welcome this new publication.


Anthony Cox
(a pharmacovigilance pharmacist at the Yellow Card Centre, West Midlands)