healthdirect’s medicines information is leading the way

Filling the content gap

This medicines service brings together data from publicly available sources, such as the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG), the Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT), the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Consumer Medicines Information (CMI) leaflets.

In addition to these sources, we improved the service to provide more consumer-friendly information, including:

• specific information for particular groups, such as veterans and military personnel who hold DVA GOLD, Orange or White cards, seniors and pregnant women
• additional information, such as possible side effects, age restrictions, food interactions, how the medicines should be stored, how they should be administered and whether a medicine is subsidised by the government on the PBS
• whether a medicine is part of the newly-launched Black Triangle Scheme, which aims to identify certain types of new prescription medicines, including those being used in new ways, and to encourage the reporting of adverse events associated with their use
• links to health articles on the healthdirect website so that consumers can find more information – which they can understand – about a condition
• a way for users to report adverse events and side effects after taking their medications

This additional information is important, since more than half of all medicines listed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) do not have a CMI. These are mostly over the counter medications that are self-administered, such as paracetamol. Of the 9,000 medicine brand pages on our site, only 4,000 have CMIs, which means the additional information provided through the healthdirect medicines service is helping to fill an important gap for consumers who want access to information about how to use these medicines safely.

Working together with industry

Healthdirect Australia is also working with the medicines industry to further improve the information available to consumers.

As our medicines service developed, we found that it was difficult to integrate and display data from the CMI leaflets on our website since the information lacked a consistent structure. We met with Medicines Australia’s Regulatory Affairs Working Group (RAWG) – whose aim is to provide timely access to innovative prescription medicines for all Australian patients – to explain these concerns.

As a result, the working group is creating a template that the medicines industry can use to provide more structured CMI content in a format that can be rapidly updated and distributed. This should enable consumers to have access to the most current medicines information.

According to Sanofi’s Dr Helen Critchley, Global Regulatory Affairs – Country Head, Australia and New Zealand, and a member of the RAWG:

“Healthdirect has significant expertise in understanding the medicines information that Australian consumers are searching for on the internet. Through their search intelligence they identified one of the barriers to more effective utilisation of medicines information is the lack of consistency in the format in which data is provided in the Consumer Medicines Information leaflets."

“These changes proposed will enable the CMI content to be available with the most up-to-date information on relevant digital platforms. This will provide the option for healthcare professionals and patients to more quickly find the information they need to use medicines appropriately, when they need it.”

If you would like further information about the medicines information service, please contact James Humffray, Information Manager: james.humffray@healthdirect.org.au