BackgroundDrug-drug interactions (DDIs) are one of the most common drug-related problems. Recently, electronic databases have drug interaction tools to search for potential DDIs, for example, Micromedex and Drugs.com. However, Micromedex and Drugs.com have different abilities in detecting potential DDIs, and this might cause misinformation to occur between patients and health care providers.Methods and findingsThe aim of this study was to compare the ability of Micromedex and Drugs.com to detect potential DDIs with metabolic syndrome medications using the drug list from the U-central database, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in April 2019. There were 90 available drugs for the treatment of the metabolic syndrome and its associated complications, but six were not found in the Micromedex and Drugs.com databases; therefore, only 84 items were used in the present study. There were 1,285 potential DDI pairs found by the two databases. Micromedex reported DDIs of 724 pairs, while, Drugs.com reported 1,122 pairs. For the severity of the potential DDI reports, the same severity occurred between the two databases of 481 pairs (37.43%) and a different severity for 804 pairs (62.57%).ConclusionDrugs.com had a higher sensitivity to detect potential DDIs by approximately 1.5-fold, but Micromedex supplied more informative documentation for the severity classification. Therefore, pharmacists should use at least two databases to evaluate potential DDIs and determine the appropriate drug regimens for physician communications and patient consultations.

Standard treatment for HIV infection involves a combination of antiretrovirals. Additionally, opportunistic infections in HIV infected patients require further antimicrobial medications that might cause drug-drug interactions (DDIs). The objective of this study was to to compare the recognition of DDIs between antiretrovirals and antimicrobials by three proprietary databases and evaluate their concordance. 114 items of antiretrovirals and antimicrobials from the National List of Essential Medicines of Thailand 2018 were used in the study. However, 21 items were not recognised by Micromedex, Drugs.com, and Liverpool HIV interactions. Only 93 items were available for the detection of potential DDIs by the three databases. Potential DDIs detected from the three databases included 292 pairs. Liverpool showed the highest number of DDIs with 285 pairs compared with 259 pairs by drugs.com and 133 pairs by Micromedex. Regarding the severity classifications, Liverpool reported 10% Contraindicated; Micromedex reported 14% contraindicated and 59% major; Drugs.com reported 21% major. The Fleiss’ kappa agreements were fair to poor among the three databases, higher agreement was observed for DDIs classified as severe. This study highlights the need to harmonize the evaluation and interpretation of DDI risk in order to produce standardized information to support prescribers.

Background: Malaria is a parasitic disease that produces significant infection in red blood cells. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationships between factors affecting the penetration of currently available anti-malarials into red blood cells. Methods: Fifteen anti-malarial drugs listed in the third edition of the World Health Organization malaria treatment guidelines were enrolled in the study. Relationship analysis began with the prioritization of the physicochemical properties of the anti-malarials to create a multivariate linear regression model that correlates the red blood cell penetration. Results: It was found that protein binding was significantly correlated with red blood cell penetration, with a negative coefficient. The next step was repeated analysis to find molecular descriptors that influence protein binding. The coefficients of the number of rotating bonds and the number of aliphatic hydrocarbons are negative, as opposed to the positive coefficients of the number of hydrogen bonds and the number of aromatic hydrocarbons. The p-value was less than 0.05. Conclusions: Anti-malarials with a small number of hydrogen bonds and aromatic hydrocarbons, together with a high number of rotatable bonds and aliphatic hydrocarbons, may have a higher tendency to penetrate the red blood cells.