Database system in the drug safety information community: Sharing the safety information regarding drugs and pregnancy.

In our drug safety information community, a Web-based database system, anzen-drug corn, was constructed. The information community with a shared foundation of knowledge on the Internet was developed as a social system. It allowed effective circulation of drug safety information regarding drug teratogenicity among health care consumers, health care professionals, and drug discovery researchers. Regarding the fetal abnormality which must be never caused as a drug adverse reaction in human, the database has three subsystems consisting of basic drug information, chemical structures and clinical data. A variety of community members can retrieve necessary information on the database. The health care consumers can register their own medication history during pregnancy and delivery outcome on the database. We developed a novel algorithm and implemented in the program, SimScore, to evaluate quantitatively the structural similarity score of a target compound with the teratogenic drugs which are defined as human teratogens by the FDA. The intellectual infrastructure of the information community contributes to the practice of evidence-based medicine, efficient drug research and development, and training of staffs in the areas of medicine and pharmacology who play important roles in risk communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]