United States Food and Drug Administration
http://www.fda.gov/cder
Phone: 800-532-4440
This is the page for the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. By clicking on the drug information icon, you can choose from a number of pharmaceutical-related FDA programs. You can also get information on newly approved drugs from the Consumer Drug Information Page and access the MEDWatch site from the drug info page. (Direct access to MEDWatch: www.fda.gov/medwatch/index.html or 800-FDA-1088.) Especially interesting is the Annual Adverse Drug Experience Report, which has the names of any drug which is considered to be potentially dangerous and the number of adverse reactions that have been reported.

Pharmaceutical Companies

Each industry website has a search engine where you can type in the name of your medicine and get all of the information on the website concerning it. Most of the sites provide package inserts for their newer drugs on-line, but you can also call the numbers listed below to order a copy of the package insert and any other literature published by the company.

Abbott Laboratories
http://www.abbott.com
Phone: 800-222-6883
Fax: 847-938-0644

Agouron Pharmaceuticals
http://www.agouron.com
Phone: 888-847-2237
Fax: 619-678-8266

American Home Products
http://www.ahp.com
Phone: 800-322-3129 (for OTC products: Whitehall Robins, Cyanamid)
800-934-5556 (for prescription products: Wyeth Ayerst)

Bayer
http://www.bayerus.com/products/index.html
Phone: 800-229-3727
Fax: 203-812-6516

Bristol-Meyers Squibb
http://www.bms.com
Phone: 800-332-2056
Fax: 609-897-6859

Eli Lilly & Co.
http://www.lilly.com
Phone: 800-545-5979

Glaxo-Wellcome
http://www.glaxowellcome.co.uk
Phone: 800-722-9292

Hoechst Marion Roussel
http://www.hmri.com
Phone: 800-552-3656

Johnson & Johnson (includes access to various Ortho, McNeil and Janssen divisions)
http://www.johnsonandjohnson.com/who_is_jnj/opsites_index.html
Phone: 800-682-6532

Merck & Co.
http://www.merck.com
Phone: 800-672-6372

Novartis
http://www.novartis.com/index.html
Phone: 888-644-8585
Fax: 973-781-8265

Pfizer
http://www.pfizer.com
Phone: 800-438-1985

Rhone-Poulenc Rorer
http://www.rpr.rpna.com

Roche
http://www.roche.com/pharma/Index.htm
Phone: 800-526-6367

Schering-Plough
http://www.sch-plough.com
Phone: 800-656-9485

GD Searle & Co.
http://www.searlehealthnet.com
Phone: 800-323-4204

SmithKline Beecham
http://www.sb.com
Phone: 888-299-3692

Solvay Pharmaceuticals
http://www.solvay.com
Phone 800-241-1643

Warner-Lambert (includes Parke-Davis)
http://www.warner-lambert.com
Phone: 800-223-0432

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA):
http://www.phrma.org
Phone: 202-835-3400
Fax: 202-835-3414

Regulatory Agencies in Other Countries

United Kingdom: Medicines Control Agency
http://www.open.gov.uk/mca/mcahome.htm

Canada: HealthCanada
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpb-dgps/therapeut/htmleng/dpd.html
This site allows you to search for drugs approved for use in Canada (mostly the same ones available in the U.S.) and get dosage information as well as the generic name and the manufacturer. It can be helpful when researching to see if you have been prescribed a commonly used drug and dosage.

Japan: Japanese Pharmacopeia (in English)
http://www.mediagalaxy.co.jp/TEST/KOSEISHO/JP-HomeE.html

South Africa: South African Medicines Control Council
http://home.intekom.com/pharm

Other Useful Resources

U.S. Pharmacopeia
http://www.usp.org
Phone: 800-822-8772
Click on the "drug information" icon and you'll be linked to USP's Useful Patient Information on Medicines page, which allows you to search your drug (by generic name only) and get warnings, precautions and prescribing information. Their "Just Ask" site (www.usp.org/pubs/just_ask/index.htm) provides helpful general information about proper medication use and allows you to request their printed material.

Clinical Pharmacology Online
http://www.cponline.gsm.com
This excellent, easy-to-use site allows you to search a drug by generic or brand name and returns a page with its chemical structure, how it works and a general description of its effects on the body.

Department of Health and Human Services
http://www.os.dhhs.gov/
This site has a link to the DHHS's Healthfinder site ( www.healthfinder.gov), which is one of the best new sites to provide patients with information of courses of treatment, health care professionals and support groups in your area.

MedHelp International
http://medhlp.netusa.net/index.htm
This is one of the best and most comprehensive sites on the Internet for medical research by consumers. It has links to medical libraries, a Q&A forum and excellent chat rooms.

Pharmaceutical Information Network Page
http://pharminfo.com
This site provides links to forums and discussion groups on particular infections and diseases.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control
http://www.cdc.gov
Phone: 404-639-3311
This site provides information on all of the CDC's disease-oriented drug initiatives.

World Health Organization
http://www.who.org
By running the term "essential drugs" in the search engine, you can bring up the WHO's Essential Drugs Monitor, which provides readers throughout the world with news about the very latest national drug policies, drug regulation programs and information about rational use of drugs.

U.S. National Institutes of Health
http://www.nih.gov
This is an excellent page for researching pharmaceuticals, since the NIH now offers a number of free research links for users, including the National Library of Medicine ( www.nlm.nih.gov). It is also a good site to visit when looking for national organizations for various illnesses.

MEDLINE
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/freemedl.html
This search engine allows you to search some 250 medical journals for information about specific health topics and pharmaceuticals, as well as to access other search engines such as AIDSLINE, HealthSTAR and TOXLINE which provide more directed specific searches. The page includes information on how to use the system. For a more user-friendly tutorial on how to use MEDLINE, Dr. Felix's Free MEDLINE Page ( www.docnet.org.uk/drfelix) has several easy-to-use tutorials, as well as access to other sites where MEDLINE is available at no cost and in several languages.

Office of Alternative Medicine
http://altmed.od.nih.gov
Phone: 888-644-6226
This site provides information on alternate courses of treatment for various illnesses. DO NOT seek the therapies provided on this site without first consulting a physician.

Heathcare Communications Group
http://www.medscape.com
This is one of the top providers of information on AIDS drugs.

Medicine Online
http://www.meds.com
This site is geared toward cancer drugs and provides information about new or alternative treatment options.

Publications

New England Journal of Medicine
http://www.nejm.org
Phone: 800-843-6356
Fax: 781-893-0413
This site allows you to see abstracts from the current journal and search the past issue archives. You can only read an abstract online, but you have the option of ordering the full text article over the web.

American Medical Association (includes JAMA)
http://www.ama-assn.org/public/journals/jama/jamahome.htm
Phone: 312-670-7827
Fax: 312-464-5831
The AMA provides abstracts from JAMA's current issue, as well as an archive that allows you to download abstracts going back four years. You can request full text of the articles online or by phone or fax for a small fee.

British Medical Journal
http://www.bmj.com/bmj/
You can read the full text version of the latest journal on this site and you can search the archives by keyword and get full text of older articles.

The Lancet
http://www.thelancet.com