Resources for finding all drugs of a certain class?

Question

I may be embarking on a project involving a fairly extensive healthcare records data set, looking for the use of a particular type of drug (for example, "Proton Pump Inhibitors"). But these drugs are usually listed by their trade or generic names - is there a well maintained resource for looking up what drugs are members of a certain class (if class is indeed the right word)?

Answer 1

Almost any good web-search engine will lead you to many sites that list many members of a class. I don't know of one that is absolutely accurate or especially convenient for lay people.

The Gold Standard in the industry is the American Hospital Formula Service, which maintains a thorough and complete list. Yet it is meant as professional resource for an entire institution and as such has a price that is way out consideration for any casual user.

Most hospital pharmacies subscribe to it, so calling one of them may be helpful. in order to be most considerate, it would be best to call them and ask them what time would be best to call them, or give them a call-back number for once they have the answer. While pharmacists regard it as par of out professional duties to educate the public; we are never going to do so at the expense of taking care of patients that need

our services more urgently.