gPharmacist

Google can help us study drug interactions:

Much like Google Flu Trends reveals influenza outbreaks by tracking flu-related search terms, search queries about drug combinations and possible side effects—say, “paroxetine,” “pravastatin,” and “hyperglycemia”—might enable researchers to identify unanticipated downsides to medications, says bioinformatics researcher Nigam Shah of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. “If a lot of people are concerned about a symptom, that in itself is valuable information.” [And although] many bad reactions to drugs never get reported to doctors, people talk about what’s bothering them all the time on a casual basis to their friends or online, notes computational biologist Nicholas Tatonetti of Columbia University, who was also involved with the study. “They don’t really know,” he says. “They’re just reporting on their symptoms, which is just a normal thing that humans love to do.”