Good for allergy sufferers?

In my role as Clinical Director of Allergy UK, I frequently get questions about the excipients in various type of medications, either becuase people know they 'react' to a particular ingredient and want to avoid it, or because they have 'reacted' to a medication and want to know what the ingredients are. I usually use the Electronic Medicines Compendium to research this, or contact manufacturers directly.

This is a useful resource but there are problems:- the EMC is incomplete; the SPCs are not always up-to-date; when patients access EMC directly they do not necessarily understand the chemical names of excipients and this can lead them to avoid medicines unnecessarily etc.

If the proposed MRHA 'compendium' addresses these problems then it will be a useful resource and important for allergy sufferers, but it needs to be presented  with relevant explanatory information and the ability to 'ask an expert' if required.

Why the contribution is important

Adverse reactions to medicines are very common, and those people who suffer them assume that they are 'allergic' to the medicine or to some added ingredient. In fact, sensitivity to medicines or ingredients (although important) is a relatively uncommon cause of adverse reactions (more common causes are dose, interactions, side-effects etc). Accurate information needs to be available for those who suffer genuine reactions, but it is important to prevent people from stopping or refusing medicines where their assumption about the cause of their symptoms is incorrect.

Current rating

0.0
Average score : 0.0 Based on : 0 votes

Please log in to add your rating.

Please log in to add comments