I recently reviewed five articles taken from five different sources available on the World Wide Web.  Each article contained information on the antiepileptic drug gabapentin.  Gabapentin is manufactured by Parke Davis in the United States under the trade name Neurontin.  Every source was individual in the way in which it presented the information, although some were more similar than others.  The sources were also obviously designed for different audiences desires and competencies.
    Article 1 was obtained from The Antiepileptic Drug Page.  It was simple to move from the main menu of the web page to the area containing the desired information, but the information provided gave only a brief overview of gabapentin.  This would not be of much help for a patient, especially since it gave pharmacokinetic data, which the average person would not understand.  The Antiepileptic Drug Page would be of limited use for health professionals due to the brevity of the information, unless it was being used as a reference for dosing and pharmacokinetic data.  In this case it would be useful for a physician or pharmacist questioning how to begin or alter a patient's drug therapy.
    Article 2 was found in the Helix web page produced by Glaxo Wellcome.  This article gave basic drug information, similar to that of a patient package insert.  It was written in layman's terms, thus making it easy for the average person to follow and understand.  However, when first connecting with the Helix web page, consumers may be intimidated because the main menu is targeted towards health care professionals, and they may not look any further.  As for health care professionals themselves, they could get the same information from patient package inserts or tertiary references.
    Article 3 was found in the virtual medical center, Mediconsult.  This would be a good databank for patients taking gabapentin because it allows the patient to link to the exact area of information that he is interested in, without having to search through other information that does not pertain to his question.  This information was then presented in a clear, concise manner that was easy to understand.  Mediconsult could be of use to a health professional, but not if he was searching for in depth information, like pharmacological or pharmacokinetic data, for example.
    Article 4 was received from the MedicineNet web page.  The main menu of MedicineNet was very "welcoming" to consumers, but it offered only basic infoormation oon gabapentin, even less than what would be found in a patient package insert.  This gabapentin information would be of no use to a health care professional, and of very limited use to a patient taking gabapentin who wanted to know more about his medication.
    Article 5 was from the 31st Meeting of the Canadian Congress of Neurological Sciences and reviewed a clinical trial of Neurontin (gabapentin).  The article was a condensewd format compared to what is usually seen for a clinical trial analysis.  This source was definitely tailored towards researchers and health care professionals.  Most consumers would not understsand the "jargon" used in this article and may incorrectly interpret the results presented.  Therefore, it would not be good for consumers, and would only be useful to those who could correctly decipher the data presented.
    As the five articles evaluated show, the internet can be a valuable source for drug information.  It is important, though, that whoever is searching for the medicine data is able to decide which World Wide Web sources are the most beneficial for his purpose.