July 1996
Regulatory Notes
Ed Oliver, MSc. - President of CPCS, Inc.

The Regulatory use of electronic filing systems, bulletin board systems, and now the Internet is continuing to expand. Regulatory agencies world-wide have realized the potential for enabling wide-spread dissemination of information relating to their policies and health promotion activities. The more sophisticated the agency, the more likely there is to be information of increasing complexity available in large quantities. Canada has been, in a number of aspects, on the forefront of the use of the Internet. Thus from a regulatory point of view there is much information to be gleaned from the sites of the Canadian government agencies, particularly if one is interested in industrial communications and recently published documentation. One big bonus is that it is, in the main, entirely free, apart from the requirement to have access through an Internet provider.

The FDA has for many years now had the availability of bulletin board systems and Fax back services for frequently requested general documentation. However, payment unfortunately, becomes an issue for Government Printing Office downloads. Still, there is increasing availability of more recent documents through government Internet sites. Indeed, access to the BBS numbers themselves can also be obtained through the home pages of the various government departments, alongside of the E-Mail connections.

Outside of North America, the most common site is that of the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Links from here allow access to regulatory agencies of most of the member nations of the European Economic Community, with links which extend back into the US once more. Information access in the European arena is still undergoing development but more and more becomes available as time goes on.

The following list some of the major sites providing a wealth of information from consumer advice to new drug submission forms.


Regulatory Information Electronic Data Sites (Canada)

    Health Canada

      Gives access to the Department of Health and Welfare Home page with subsequent links to the Health Protection Branch and its component divisions, including the Drugs Directorate and Field Operations. Further links given include; Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Chronic Disease Homepage, Environmental Health, Food Directorate, Medical Devices, Manchester University Pharmacology Web, WHO, MRC, and CMA.


Regulatory Information Electronic Data Sites (United States)


Regulatory Information Electronic Data Sites (International)

 

© 1997 CPCS, Inc.