When does Epocrates add new drug products?
The medical information editors generally add most new drugs approved by the FDA for use in humans around the time the drug becomes commercially available. In order to avoid confusion about what is actually available for clinicians to prescribe, we do not add drugs to the database immediately upon FDA approval. After the FDA approves a product, it typically takes several weeks to months (or even in rare circumstances, years) for the manufacturer to actually release the product to the market. During this time, we remain in contact with pharmaceutical manufacturers regarding their expected launch dates for new products, and then time the addition of a new monograph around this. Because new content is pushed out to users weekly, you can expect to see a new monograph in Epocrates Rx either shortly before or after the time of launch.
