Links

Below are links to information of interest to clinicians, including drug effectiveness and systematic literature reviews, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and advocacy organizations.

• Drug and Literature Reviews
• Governmental and Inter-Governmental Organizations
• Non-Governmental Organizations
• Advocacy Organizations

Drug and Literature Reviews

• Oregon Health & Science University’s Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP) Final Reports
  This site offers psychiatrists information regarding the comparative effectiveness and safety profiles of different drugs within pharmaceutical classes, including downloadable evidenced-based reports.
  • Drug Class Review on Antiepileptic Drugs in Bipolar Mood Disorder, Neuropathic Pain, and Fibromyalgia
• The Cochrane Collaboration
  Improving healthcare decision-making globally, through systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions, published in The Cochrane Library
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
  AHRQ is the health services research arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, funding research on health care quality, costs, outcomes, and patient safety. AHRQ also funds Evidence Based Practice Centers in the US and Canada, that specialize in the conduct and methods of systematic reviews.
  • Research review: Efficacy and Comparative Effectiveness of Off-Label Use of Atypical Antipsychotics
  • Evidence Based Practice Centers Mental Health Research Reviews by Health Condition (click on Mental Health)

Governmental and Inter-Governmental Organizations

• National Institute for Mental Health
  NIMH is the largest scientific organization in the world dedicated to research focused on the understanding, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders and the promotion of mental health.
• www.clinicaltrials.gov
  ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the United States and around the world. ClinicalTrials.gov gives you information about a trial's purpose, who may participate, locations, and phone numbers for more details.
• National Guidelines Clearinghouse
  The National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) is a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  The FDA’s mission is to protect the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, as well as our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.
  • Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
  • Resources For Healthcare Providers
  • Drug Information Pathfinder
• World Health Organization Drug Promotion Database
  One of the many goals of the World Health Organization is to ensure therapeutically sound and cost-effective use of medicines by health professionals and consumers. In this vein, WHO supported the development of a Drug Promotion Database to collect and analyze a wide range of material that described, analyzed, reported on, or commented on any aspect of pharmaceutical promotion.
  
  An analysis of information in the drug promotion database is available in the following article: WHO Drug promotion, what we know what we have yet to learn. WHO 2005

Non-Governmental Organizations

• American Psychiatric Association
  The APA provides an organizational home for medical professionals engaged in psychiatric medicine. Resources include information at the district and state level, patient resources, advocacy news, continuing education resources, research updates, and practice guidelines to assist psychiatrists in clinical decision-making and to improve patient care.
  • APA Practice Guidelines
  • Guideline Watch Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Bipolar Disorder, 2nd Edition (November, 2005)
• Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine
  Housed at the Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford, the aim of the Centre for
  Evidence-Based Medicine is to develop, teach and promote evidence-based health
  care and provide support and resources to anyone who wants to make use of them

Advocacy Organizations

• Healthy Skepticism
  Healthy Skepticism is an international non-profit organization for health professionals and everyone with an interest in improving health. The major aim is to improve health by reducing harm from misleading drug promotion.
• No Free Lunch
  No Free Lunch is a not-for-profit organization with a mission of encouraging health care providers to practice medicine on the basis of scientific evidence rather than on the basis of pharmaceutical promotion. The site is run by a single physician, a general internist practicing in New York City. All funding for the organization comes from membership fees, donations, and product sales.
• The Prescription Project
  The Prescription Project is an organization funded by the Pew Charitable Trust that seeks to eliminate conflicts of interest created by industry marketing by promoting policy change among academic medical centers, professional medical societies and public and private payers.