Amazon announced yesterday that, thanks to an agreement with First Databank (FDB), Alexa is able to provide consumers with a wide variety of drug information.
FDB doctors have extracted a subset of concise and clinical drug information for Alexa through a review of the most relevant content of the company’s proprietary drug monographs.
The service provides personalized content that allows consumers to ask for information about the effects of a drug, such as drug interactions, side effects, precautions and the class of the drug. The service is provided in both English and Spanish and will be updated regularly.
Alexa, thanks to the content of FDB, is now able to answer common questions about drugs, such as, for example:
– “Alexa, what is Tylenol?”
– “Alexa, what kind of drug is ibuprofen?”
– “Alexa, what are the side effects of sertraline?”
– “Alexa, what’s the aspirin for?”
– “Alexa, does Zoloft interact with Aleve?”
– “Alexa, is Advil safe for pregnant women?”
– “Alexa, what’s the difference between Tylenol and Advil?”
Amazon’s initiative aims to provide its users with a service to obtain useful information about medicines, including side effects and drug interactions, both for themselves and the people they are treating.
This is a very useful initiative aimed at promoting safe and informed use of medicines.