MHRA Report Published by Delib

Following the successful dialogue from the MHRA, Delib has published a report on the Medicine Information Online Discussion which ran between February and March 2010. It was designed to discuss whether making the MHRA’s definitive database of patient information leaflets (PILs) and Summary of Product Characteristics (SPCs) available online is a good idea and, if so, what the site should look like. The report provides an overview of the entire project including demographics of participants, traffic analytics and key themes which emerged from discussion.

Here’s a brief snapshot of some of the key facts and figures from the report:

Aim of Dialogue

• Discuss the proposition: ‘The Government’s medicines watchdog want to put their comprehensive and up-to-date drug information online. Is this a good idea? How would you use it?’

Brief Overview of Participation

• 252 registered users (including 20 admin users from either the MHRA or Delib)
• 65 ideas from 60 different users
• 149 comments (mean average of 2.3 per idea)
• 135 ratings (mean average of 2.1 per idea)

Brief Overview of Participants

• 31% described themselves as a member of the general public
• 32% described themselves as a pharmacist
• 13% described themselves as a member of the pharmaceutical industry
• 5% described themselves as a doctor
• 3% described themselves as a nurse

Outcomes of Dialogue

• Overall participants felt an online comprehensive medicine database was a good idea
• Main debate was whether a new database should be created or whether existing databases (namely the ems) could be added to

Action Taken by the MHRA

• “This research indicated that there is a broad consensus among patients/ members of the public on the benefits of providing product information online.”
• “However, due to the current financial climate [...] the Agency has no immediate plans to proceed with this development. We will, of course, be continually reviewing the situation and hope to be able to implement this project in the future.”

A PDF of the full MHRA report can be downloaded here. For more of information about the dialogue or make a comment about the report, feel free to get in touch: info@delib.co.uk or 0845 638 1848.