INFORMATION UPDATE "Helping Businesses Find the Facts" January, 2002 Number 28 A Monthly Publication of Shamel Information Services mailto:InfoUpdate@shamelinfo.com ============================================================ Welcome to INFORMATION UPDATE, the free monthly newsletter for business and healthcare professionals. For subscription information, refer to notes at the end of this newsletter. ============================================================ Happy New Year to All ------------------------------------------------------------ IN THIS ISSUE ------------------------------------------------------------ => Do It Yourself - Drug Research => Did You Know? - Analyze the Literature to Understand a Product or Company => Notes, News and Announcements => Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information ------------------------------------------------------------ DO IT YOURSELF - Drug Research ------------------------------------------------------------ The pharmacist recommends an over the counter remedy. You try it. You like it. Now you want to know, what is it? How does it work? Where did it come from? To answer these questions in a "pre-Internet" environment, a trip to the library would definitely be in order. These days, a few strategically placed keystrokes will put you in touch with some very authoritative sources of information. Let's take Abreva as an example. This is a relatively new over-the-counter treatment for cold sores, and this author is here to tell you it works. So, go to the Google search engine at http://www.google.com. Enter "abreva" in the search box. My search yielded about 2,150 hits, and not surprisingly, the first three are from the manufacturer's web site http://www.abreva.com. This is likely an authori- tative and relatively unbiased site (since pharmaceutical company statements to the public are tightly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, the information on this site will be carefully worded.) Now, scan the url's on the hit list to see where the infor- mation is coming from. Number five on the list comes from CenterWatch http://www.centerwatch.com This private pub- lishing and information company is dedicated to providing information on clinical research. Here you can learn about the drug, how it works, what side effects there might be, and the clinical trail results. Many of us would stop here, having had our initial questions answered. Looking at the Abreva web site and at CenterWatch might point us to some additional resources. With the drug name "docosanol" we could go back to Google and do a new search. We could search PubMed http://www.pubmed.gov for scientific and clinical trail information, and we could also search the FDA site for publications submitted there http://www.fda.gov. The key to this particular search was to begin broadly on Google, select and view hits from reliable sources, then follow these hits to the needed information or to additional sources. Thanks to Blair Shamel for sharing this particular search scenario with the Information Update editor. ------------------------------------------------------------ DID YOU KNOW -- Analyze the Literature ------------------------------------------------------------ Product names, company names, trade names and drug names are all mentioned in the scientific and medical literature. Investigators do studies, they write up the results, they get the results published and they present their results at pro- fessional meetings. All of this writing, publishing and presenting adds up to an image or an impression being cast about a company and its products. What does the collective body of works say about your com- pany or product? Where is the information being published? What types of articles have been written and presentations made? Who is doing this writing and presenting? In order to really understand your product's placement in marketplace, you will want answers to these questions. To really understand the answers you will want an analysis of the data. Shamel Information Services can provide you with an analysis of the literature as it relates to your company and your pro- ducts. Call now to learn more about this essential information and analytical service. 858-673-4673 ------------------------------------------------------------ Notes, News, and Announcements ------------------------------------------------------------ New web site: http://catalogs.google.com This search engine is still in beta testing, but it allows you to search across a selection of catalogs. I tried it, searching for a new 2-line telephone. It seems to work! National Park Service web site has been temporarily shut down under a court order. http://www.nps.gov would normally lead to information about all of the U.S. national parks, however the site will be unavailable until certain security issues can be resolved. Conferences: Practical Guide to Registering Biological and Biotech Products in Europe 22 Jan 2002 - 23 Jan 2002 — London, United Kingdom Contact: Client Services / +44 (0)1483 570 099 mailto:info@management-forum.co.uk Web: www.management-forum.co.uk Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) 24 Jan 2002 - 25 Jan 2002 — San Francisco, CA, USA Contact: Client Services / +1 800-817-8601 mailto:cbireg@cbinet.com Web: www.cbinet.com An Introduction to Biotechnology Patenting 28 Jan 2002 - 29 Jan 2002 — London, United Kingdom Contact: Katie Evans / +44 (0)20 7453 2173 mailto:katie.evans@informa.com Web: www.ibc-lifesci.com/kl105 ============================================================= Information Update articles are now searchable on the web. Visit http://www.shamelinfo.com and click on "Newsletters." >From that page you can enter your search terms to locate articles from past issues of Information Update. Give it a try and let us know what you think. The Shamel Information Services web site at http://shamelinfo.com contains Information Update archives. Just click on "Newsletters" and check for any issues you might have missed. -------------------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE -------------------------------------------------------------- Subscriptions to INFORMATION UPDATE are free. You may subscribe or unsubscribe by sending a message to: mailto:InfoUpdate@shamelinfo.com with SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Copyright 2002 Cynthia L. Shamel; Shamel Information Services Please feel free to forward this issue to colleagues, in its entirety. Other uses without permission may violate copyright. Online archives at http://shamelinfo.com/newsletter.htm =============================================================== Cynthia L. Shamel, editor Shamel Information Services Poway, California mailto:cshamel@shamelinfo.com Ms. Shamel is on the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Information Professionals http://www.aiip.org and a Special Libraries Association, San Diego Chapter member. Telephone: 858-673-4673 Toll Free: 800-330-9939