Abilities Lab 5: Searching the Literature

Searching the Literature

While tertiary drug information resources such as Micromedex and Lexicomp contain sufficient information on the majority of drugs, when compounding you may end up working with formulations that aren't covered by these resources. In these cases, you will need to consult the primary literature to confirm whether a particular formulation is feasible, and if so, what the correct dosage is.

Our example question for these searches will be the feasibility of ketoprofen 10% pluronic lecithin organogel (PLO). There are multiple ways to search for this topic, which I will demonstrate below. Keep in mind that if you cannot find exact studies on the compound you need, you may have to extrapolate from other available literature. For example, to see if a drug could be administered topically, look at a bioavailability study on that substance to see if it can be absorbed through the skin barrier.

Method 1: Embase Quick Search

This method will be the quickest way to investigate a specific compound, such as the one in our example. To search more broadly for various options for a particular route of administration, such as topical, consider using the approach outlined under Method 2.

Embase This link opens in a new window
Embase is a large biomedical literature database with excellent coverage of research pertaining to drugs, diseases, and devices.

Using Quick Search (the default interface), follow these steps:

Start typing ketoprofen into the first box. When ketoprofen pops up in the drop-down menu, click on it, then click the blue search button.
Return to the search page, then repeat Step 1 with the term pluronic lecithin organogel.
On the results page, click the boxes next to the first two searches under History.
Click the blue Combine button.
Review the results, which will contain terms about both ketoprofen and PLO.

For a visual demonstration, view the 4-minute tutorial video below.

Transcript of Embase Quick Search - ABL 5
Written transcript of the Embase Quick Search - ABL 5 tutorial video.

Method 2: Embase Drug Search

This method is a broader search than Method 1. In this search, we will retrieve literature about all topical or transdermal administration of ketoprofen rather than limiting it to pluronic lecithin organogel. You can use this method to look for literature on any route of administration - just select different options in Step 4.

Embase This link opens in a new window
Embase is a large biomedical literature database with excellent coverage of research pertaining to drugs, diseases, and devices.

Using Drug Search (click the Drug tab above the default search area), follow these steps:

Start typing ketoprofen into the search box. When ketoprofen pops up in the drop-down menu, click on it.
Under Embase mapping option, click the box next to Limit to terms indexed in article as 'major focus.' This will ensure that ketoprofen is a main topic of the articles that are retrieved.
Under the search box, click on Routes.
Click the boxes next to Topical drug administration and Transdermal drug administration. By default, these two options will be combined with OR so that the articles retrieved could be about either one, but not necessarily both.
Click the blue Search button.