Media Release - Sydney, NSW - 3rd September 2010
Significant adverse drug-herb interactions information will soon be available to all healthcare professionals. MIMS Australia and IMgateway this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the intention of delivering a unique Australian developed, evidence based drug-herb interactions database directly to the healthcare professional’s desk top. This database has been developed by researchers from the Faculty of Pharmacy at The University of Sydney.
MIMS and IMgateway are excited to have formalised their agreement to work together, with the goal of exploring all possible avenues for delivering the content developed at The University of Sydney. The evidence based drug-herb interactions project has been headed up by Professor Basil Roufogalis and Professor Andrew McLachlan and has been updated and expanded since its inception in 2002. This evidence based information has been delivered via the unique Australian integrative medicines website IMgateway since December 2009.
This important partnership will enable a shared goal of bringing trusted medicines information and evidence based drug-herb interactions to a wider audience. The wide range of digital products that MIMS now has in the market means the interactions can be delivered to the end user in a way that meets their need and at the point of care. “It is our intention to work with our clients and partner vendors to deliver this content as part of our integrated data solutions” said Ms Gehrig "There is no doubt that the use of complementary medicines is increasing and the need for evidence based information about their impact on prescription medicines is now integral to the needs of healthcare professionals and consumers”.
Professor Basil Roufogalis describes the signing of the MOU between MIMS and IMgateway as “an important development in the delivery of evidence based information on herbal/nutritional medicine interactions with pharmaceutical drugs” He went on to say “there has been a growing demand for this information from doctors, pharmacists and other health professions. The alliance with MIMS provides an excellent opportunity to disseminate the information developed by the Herbal Medicines Research and Education Centre of the Faculty of Pharmacy more widely and for continuation of the underlying research”.
Each organisation will bring their own strengths to the partnership and all look forward in the near future to delivering an Australian innovation which is designed to provide health practitioners with information to reduce adverse drug-herb interactions. Increased awareness of the potential impact of interactions between herbs and all medicines will be of significant benefit to the community.
MIMS Australia
