Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : November/December 2003

Searching the Drug Pipeline Databases

| Databases and Information Available | Which Databases Should You Use? |
| Conclusions | Search Tip |

For those looking for information about drugs in the pipeline, Dialog offers a comprehensive collection of drug pipeline databases including databases from Adis, IMS, Pharmaprojects and Prous. With so many choices it is often difficult to know where to start. What are pipeline databases? What information do they contain? Is one better than another? Should you be searching all of them for comprehensive retrieval?

Put simply, drug pipeline databases provide information on drug compounds as they progress through the research and development pipeline. They also provide information on launched and discontinued products. Within the pipeline databases, each record focuses on one compound, gathering and analyzing all the information on that compound and putting it into one record. This will usually include scientific, legal and regulatory, and commercial information gathered from a variety of sources, including journal articles, annual reports, direct contact with companies, conferences, news, patents, broker reports and so on. This type of information is useful for competitive intelligence, market opportunities or finding out more information about the clinical trials for a compound.

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Databases and Information Available

Dialog provides access to five pipeline databases from four sources via Dialog or Dialog DataStar. These are Adis R&D Insight, IMS R&D Focus, Pharmaprojects from PJB Publications, Prous Science Drug Data Report and Prous Science Drugs of the Future.

A typical pipeline record contains the generic names and synonyms for the compound in question, as well as information about the indications and therapeutic applications, the company or licensees behind the drug, information about the development phases of the drug and some sort of clinical summary. Depending on the database, the record may also include patent details, a commercial summary, information about the phases of development in each country and a detailed development history of the drug so that you can track the development milestones.

Each database also has its own strengths:

• Adis R&D Insight (File 107/ADRD) delivers detailed records containing very good clinical information including clinical trials, pharmacology, adverse effects and a commercial summary.
  
  
• Pharmaprojects (File 128/PHAR) provides a detailed development history section and is excellent for setting up Alerts to keep track of major changes in a compound's development.
  
  
• IMS R&D Focus (File 445/IPUR) offers detailed information on company names including parent companies and licensee information.
  
  
• Prous Science Drug Data Report (File 452/PRDR) is unique in providing information on compounds at the biological testing stage of development, as well as detailed patent information.
  
  
• Prous Science Drugs of the Future (File 453/PRFU) contains very detailed records including information on synthesis pharmacological activity, pharmacokinetics and clinical trials. Only drugs of major clinical significance are included.

The detailed indexing behind each of these databases in Dialog or Dialog DataStar lets you search easily through this extensive information to find the answers to a great variety of questions. For example, you may be interested in finding out the development stage of a product or the complete product pipeline for a company. Perhaps you need to know the drugs in development for an indication or therapeutic class. Maybe you want to link the therapeutic area to a phase of development to find out, for example, what Alzheimer drugs are in phase III of development. You can locate detailed information about a company's pipeline in a particular area giving you clues as to what that company is about to bring to market, or indications of a new focus in a different therapeutic area. Other search fields let you find out whether a drug is available for licensing, when it became available, or when a compound moved to a different phase. You can also find out about the possible commercial potential of a compound, the adverse effects or pharmacokenetics of a compound or see the patent family.

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Which Databases Should You Use?

Each of these databases gathers together information on a compound. However, each database does not provide exactly the same information so carrying out the same search in a number of databases will usually result in a different set of results.

There are a number of reasons why this would be. First, a compound may be known by a number of different names. Since every file does not have the same list of synonyms, you may miss records if you only look in one database. Another difference is in the company name indexing. Some databases give parent, subsidiary and licensee names; others do not index all three. Searches that miss one of these names may miss records.

Therapeutic class searching can also be tricky when searching across databases. There are three different standards of therapeutic class indexing. Adis, IMS and Pharmaprojects all use coding based on European Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Association (EPhMRA) codes but they may have been modified slightly for their own use. Adis also uses WHO ATC codes, which are similar, but sometimes more detailed. The Prous databases use their own system. You have to be sure that you are using the right coding for each database.

Care should also be taken when searching for indications. Terms may vary between databases and indications may not yet be assigned if a compound is at a very early stage in the pipeline. Therapeutic classes and indications may also be country specific. For example, a drug could be in phase II in one country for one indication, but in another phase in another country for a different indication.

Databases will also have different country coverage and will make different decisions about when to start or stop tracking a drug. They also update at different times and gather information from different sources all of which affect the number of records that you retrieve in a search.

It is important to remember that these records are comprised of data from lots of different sources and that there is a process involved in analyzing and writing up these records that can vary between databases.

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Conclusions

Which database is best? None really. All provide valuable information. The databases you choose to use may come down to personal preference or may depend on the type of question you are trying to answer. Study the Datasheet or Bluesheet for each database. This shows you a sample record that can help you decide which of the databases you prefer. There are also practice databases available for some of these files that show you the available functionality.

What is certain is that if you only search in one pipeline database, you are going to get an incomplete picture. If a comprehensive search is important to you, be sure to include as many databases as possible.

Gail Stark
Training Consultant, United Kingdom

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Search Tip

To retrieve and display Trademark Trial & Appeal Board (TTAB) information, use the /TTAB limit option to identify marks with TTAB activity (e.g., s s1/ttab). Use Format 12 to display only TTAB-related data.

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