Presents over 350 prescription drugs and answers to common questions about them, covering such issues as usage, precautions, side effects, and dosages.

With thousands of prescription drugs available today, protecting yourself and your family should be a main priority. Consumers need to educate themselves on prescription and over-the-counter drugs and take an assertive role in managing their medications. The new 2006 edition of Consumers Drug Reference (CDR) can assist consumers on questions they have regarding their medication. Am I taking the right dosage? Does it conflict with other medication? Unlike other drug references, the CDR relies solely on medical experts for its facts, not drug manufacturers' package inserts. These experts have worked with the United States Pharmacopeias (USP) to provide: "Unbiased, authoritative information on more than 11,000 drugs; including vitamins, minerals and the newest drugs "Full color identification chart of pills and tablets "Drug precautions and side effects you should know before using "Correct dosage and information on missed dosage "General information about the use of medicine, plus a glossary with over 400 medical terms "Free link to the USP website for new and additional drug listings.

The best pocket drug guide yet! Rely on this handy reference for at-the-bedside guidance on the safe administration of medications to adult, pediatric, and geriatric patients, as well as pregnant and lactating women, and those with renal impairments.

Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.

In its decades-long effort to assure the safety, efficacy, and security of medicines and other products, the Food and Drug Administration has struggled with issues of funding, proper associations with industry, and the balance between consumer choice and consumer protection. Today, these challenges are compounded by the pressures of globalization, the introduction of novel technologies, and fast-evolving threats to public health. With essays by leading scholars and government and private-industry experts, FDA in the Twenty-First Century addresses perennial and new problems and the improvements the agency can make to better serve the public good. The collection features essays on effective regulation in an era of globalization, consumer empowerment, and comparative effectiveness, as well as questions of data transparency, conflicts of interest, industry responsibility, and innovation policy, all with an emphasis on pharmaceuticals. The book also intervenes in the debate over off-label drug marketing and the proper role of the FDA before and after a drug goes on the market. Dealing honestly and thoroughly with the FDA's successes and failures, these essays rethink the structure, function, and future of the agency and the effect policy innovations may have on regulatory institutions abroad.

Challenges our understanding of health, risks, facts, and clinical trials [Payot]

This completely revised edition of the renowned guide presents everything readers need to know about prescription drugs based on the FDA-approved information published in the "Physicians Desk Reference." Original.

Identifies drug products by the codes imprinted on them. Includes brand name and generic products, from the United States and Canada. Gives a description of each product's colors, shape, graphics, and imprint code. The ingredients and strength of each ingredient are also shown.