Editorial Policy

Source of Record vs. Explanation

CheckDrugInteractions.com separates the source of an interaction record from the explanation of that record. The database is built primarily from official U.S. FDA drug labeling made available through openFDA and DailyMed. Drug identities are normalized with NIH/NLM RxNorm.

A small number of well-established interactions may be supplemented from curated clinical references when FDA labeling states the effect only at a pharmacologic-class level or leaves a specific pair-level gap. Those records are provenance-tagged and are not silently described as FDA-originated data.

What AI-Assisted Educational Content May Do

Educational articles may use AI assistance to turn technical drug-label language and established basic pharmacology into clearer explanations for patients and caregivers. AI can explain terminology, mechanisms already supported by source material, the meaning of severity levels, and the practical reason a pharmacist or physician should confirm a medication decision.

The goal is interpretation for readability, not replacement of the underlying source. Articles should identify or link to the relevant authoritative material whenever a medical claim depends on it.

What AI-Assisted Content May Not Do

• It may not invent a drug interaction because a theoretical mechanism appears plausible.
• It may not state that two drugs interact when no source-of-record interaction is available.
• It may not contradict a stored source record or independently upgrade or downgrade its severity.
• It may not fabricate FDA language, source URLs, PubMed identifiers, statistics, or patient outcomes.
• It may not give individualized instructions to start, stop, or change a medication.

No-Interaction Results

“No documented interaction” means the site did not find a pair-level interaction in its source corpus. It does not mean the combination has been proven safe. Educational content must preserve that distinction and must not convert an absence of source evidence into a newly asserted interaction.

Hypothetical Examples

Articles may use clearly hypothetical scenarios to make documented source material easier to understand. A hypothetical patient example is illustrative only; it does not establish a new interaction, predict an individual outcome, or substitute for professional advice.

Corrections and Provenance

If you find an error, outdated entry, incorrect source attribution, or missing interaction, email support@checkdruginteractions.com. Reports are checked against the underlying source before records or pages are changed. The methodology and provenance rules are documented on our Methodology page.

What This Site Is — and Is Not

CheckDrugInteractions.com is an informational research and access tool. It is not a healthcare provider and does not establish a patient–provider relationship. Users should consult a licensed pharmacist or physician before making medication decisions that depend on dose, route, timing, organ function, other medicines, or individual medical history.

Advertising Independence

Advertisers have no control over the interaction database, source attribution, severity classification, or editorial conclusions. Advertising does not create, remove, promote, or suppress an interaction result.