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Know Your Drugs: A Knowledge Graph for Drug-Drug-Disease Interactions
Build a shared database for drugmakers, FDA, doctors, and patients
Disclaimer: This article does not provide medical advice. It is intended for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
In today’s healthcare landscape, treating complex diseases often requires taking multiple medications concurrently, such as the cocktail therapies against HIV or COVID. Synergistic or additive drug combinations can increase efficacy, reduce toxicity, shorten duration, or prevent drug resistance (1). While this approach can be helpful in the fight against cancer or infections, other times it is a bad idea because of harmful drug-drug interactions. These interactions, when one medication influences the effectiveness or safety of another, can range from mild inconveniences to life-threatening risks.
Navigating this complex drug-drug interaction landscape demands a shared responsibility among all stakeholders: drug manufacturers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), doctors, and most importantly, patients. Firstly, manufacturers and the FDA play a crucial role in thoroughly evaluating and labeling medications for potential interactions. Accurate and comprehensive labeling empowers…
