Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : September 2001

Pharmaprojects on DataStar™ Now Includes Images and New Quick Codes

Pharmaprojects is a leading source of global business intelligence on drugs in research and development and provides users with a comprehensive view of product development.

DataStar is pleased to announce the addition of structure images, as well as a series of enhanced quick codes to facilitate identification of major changes to documents held in Pharmaprojects.

Chemical structure images

Pharmaprojects provides details of each individual drug or formulation in the form of product profiles. In August, Pharmaprojects on DataStar was enhanced with the addition of over 11,000 chemical structure images to accompany many of the product profiles. These structures are available only through DataStarWeb™.

Netscape 4.0 (or above) is the optimal browser for image viewing on DataStar, but the structures may also be viewed via Internet Explorer 4.0 (or above). The images can be saved in HTML and also printed. For step by step instructions on saving and printing images, simply click on the Help button on DataStarWeb.

Records with images do not cost any more than those without. However, if you use DataStar Classic or DataStar for Windows, you will not be able to view the images, as they are only accessible via a web browser.

An example of a Pharmaprojects chemical structure image is given below:

You may, if you wish, restrict your searches to include only those documents with images, by selecting "Restrict to ­ documents with images" on DataStarWeb. You can also choose to display the images in a second browser window or embedded in the document by clicking the Options button.

Major change quick code

This latest reload of Pharmaprojects on DataStar also brings an enhancement to the major change quick code. Three new quick codes concerning major changes to documents have been introduced:

MAJOR=YES
MINOR=YES
NEW=YES

These codes allow for greater specificity in searching, enabling you to look for product profiles which are new (NEW=YES) or have undergone a major change (MAJOR= YES). You may also select only those records which have undergone a MINOR change using the MINOR=YES quick code. Previously, only the quick code MJ=YES was available, which selected both NEW and MAJOR change records. The MJ=YES quick code is now a synonym for MAJOR=YES and so will select MAJOR change records only. In all cases, MAJOR, MINOR and NEW refer to the latest change made to the record.

You may also incorporate the major change limit into your searches, which allows you to reduce or limit a set of records to include only those which have undergone a major change, or are new within a specified time period. For example, to find product profiles which include Oedema as an indication and which underwent a major change, or were new, between June 1, 1999 and June 1, 2000 search as:

1_: OEDEMA.IN.

2_: ..L 1 MJ WL 19990601,20000601

or to search for those records which underwent a major change or were new after March 1 of this year, search as:

3_: ..L 1 MJ>20010301

Recently added enhancements to Pharmaprojects on Dialog and DataStar

This year Pharmaprojects has brought in a range of fully-browsable enhancements that guarantee more precise searching and offer greater flexibility and variety to users' search criteria. These enhancements were described in the June Chronolog. (http://support.dialog.com/publications/chronolog/200106/) Images for Pharmaprojects are also now available on Dialog (Files 128/928). Consult the Bluesheet for further information.

Brief summary of the enhancements:

Latest change information

This search field was introduced to enable customers to identify, at a glance, the most recent information added to a drug profile. Each profile now contains a section where the following information is displayed:

• When the profile was updated (regardless of whether it was a major or minor change)
  
  
• Who updated it (the editor's initials)
  
  
• A summary of the information added

Previously, unless a drug had undergone a major event, users could not tell what the latest information added to a record was. With the new Latest Change field, this is now really easy. This information is located in the LU field on Dialog, the LA field on DataStar.

Actual/estimated event date

A further enhancement is a guide to the accuracy of the Event Dates Next to each date is either 'Act' (Actual) or 'Est' (Estimated). Pharmaprojects defines a date as Actual if it is sure that the event happened on the date stated or within fifteen days either side. If it is known only that an event happened within the second quarter of 2000, Pharmaprojects editors will use what data they have to pick a likely date within this time period, but the Event Date will appear as Estimated.

Pharmaprojects began assigning Actual and Estimated Event Dates in June 2000. All Event Dates prior to this have been defaulted to the15th of the month in which the Event was recorded and listed as Estimated.

This new feature allows users to assess what degree of confidence they should have in the Event Dates given in Pharmaprojects. It will be particularly useful for those who wish to know the exact date on which a product was approved or on which marketing began, and also for those assessing how long a drug has taken to pass through different stages of clinical development. This information is located in the UP field on Dialog, the DT field on DataStar.

Additional countries

The number of searchable countries has been increased to 40. The following countries are now covered by Pharmaprojects (the new countries are highlighted):

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UK, USA, Venezuela.

Since development status and country are linked for each country in this field, this enhancement will permit accurate searching by drug development status for each of these twelve countries and subscribers will no longer have to rely on searching in the text for data on them with the false hits which that may produce.

Linking indication to status

To facilitate more accurate searching, Pharmaprojects has linked every individual indication to its development status in the same way that therapy is linked to status in the linking field. This will allow users to identify accurately for the first time only those drugs which are at a particular development phase for a specific disease. This information is located in the IN field on Dialog and DataStar.

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