i202 Fall 2009 School of Information, UC Berkeley

It looks like structured product labeling hasn't been enough to make the prescription labeling process a smooth system. A recent article called Lost in Transmission — FDA Drug Information That Never Reaches Clinicians in the New England Journal of Medicine (you may not be able to link directly to it and need to be on the Berkeley network to access it) discusses how problematic the labeling process continues to be. The article brings up concerns about how much of the FDA review process information does not make it to the final product label, some of which is crucial information for the prescribing physician, including drug efficacy information. The article suggests that stimulus money should be allocated "to disseminate existing but practically inaccessible information about the benefits and harms of prescription drugs."