Drugs@FDA
  An Important Note about Search Results

The drugs that are listed on the "Search Results" page are not always related in terms of their chemical makeup or the conditions they treat, and are not necessarily substitutable.  They appear together because their drug names or active ingredient names contain the words or parts of words you entered in the search box.  The text you searched for appears in bold letters in the search results.

Even if drug products have the same active ingredient, dosage form, and strength, it might not be safe to use one in place of the other.  You should always consult a health care professional to determine if one drug can be safely substituted for another, that is, if they are therapeutically equivalent.

How searches work:

• When you enter a string of characters to search Drugs@FDA, you are searching for that string of characters in the exact order you typed them, anywhere in a drug name or an active ingredient name.
• Example:
  If you enter "proz" you will retrieve drug products that have that four-letter string somewhere in their drug names or active ingredient names:
  • CEFPROZIL   [from the "Active Ingredient" column]
  • OXAPROZIN POTASSIUM   [from the "Active Ingredient" column]
  • PROZAC   [from the "Drug Name" column]
  • PROZAC WEEKLY   [from the "Drug Name" column]
    
    
• Tip:  Enter as much of the name as you know to focus your results.  For example, if you know you want to retrieve the records for Prozac, enter the entire word.
  
  
• If you enter two or more words separated by a space, Drugs@FDA will look for records containing both of the words, whether they occur together or apart, in either a drug name or an active ingredient name.
• Example:
  If you enter "claritin pseudoephedrine" you will retrieve drug products that have either one of those words in either their drug names or active ingredient names:
  • CLARITIN-D  (LORATADINE; PSEUDOEPHEDRINE SULFATE)
  • CLARITIN-D 24 HOUR  (LORATADINE; PSEUDOEPHEDRINE SULFATE)

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