Wikipedia:WikiProject Pharmacology/Style guide

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This style guide serves as a de-facto style guide for the formatting of articles related to drugs. If you disagree with a part of the style guide, feel free to edit yourself, or discuss changes on the talk page.

Contents 1 Sectioning 2 Naming conventions 2.1 Drug pages to use INN 2.2 Standard drug combinations 3 Use ATC code

[edit] Sectioning

Every complete drug-related page should contain information organized into the following sections, with attention to order.

1. Drugbox

   This is not a section per se, but it should be included in every drug-related article. In the source code of the article, it appears before the article lead. It is viewed as being at the top-right corner of the page. If information is missing, use a question mark as a placeholder. User:Fuzzform is able to provide images.

2. Lead section

   The lead section is defined as "the section before the first headline. The table of contents, if displayed, appears between the lead section and the first headline." In articles about drugs, they should describe the drug in question, as well as what it does. If a substance is used primarily as a drug, it should be noted so. If applicable, indicate alternatives to the INN name, such as the British Approved Name (BAN) or United States Approved Name (USAN). In parenthesis, list the main or initial brand names for the drug and the name of the drug company. Use the registered trademark symbol, ®, to indicate trademarked brand names. Be sure to brand all the applicable names; however, if there are more than a few brand names, it is best to list these separately in the body of the article.

3. History

   When writing about the history of the drug, only include this section if a sufficient amount of information on the drug's origin and/or first synthesis is available. If available, there should be a timeline of first synthesis, approval dates (US, Europe, UK, etc), when marketing stopped or ownership transferred, etc.

4. Indications and Dosage

   This section should go into further detail what the drug is used for (for each indication), what doses are used, and what the drug is used for. Approved and off-label uses should be differentiated. Be sure to note if the drug approval varies internationally.

   1. Availability

      This section details what forms the drug is available in. Information includes route of administration (e.g. oral, i.v., i.m., rectal, parenteral, intranasal. Oral forms of administration should be differentiated: tablets, crushable tablets, capsules (containing powder, gel, or sprinkle beads), enteric-coated or slow-release tables/capsules, syrup, sugar-free liquid, or powder (soluble or for suspension).

5. Side Effects

   The side effects should be mentioned, as well as whether they are common, uncommon, or rare. If possible, use specific statistics (be sure to cite sources!). Use side effect percentages with placebo/control vs. percentage with drug/experimental.

6. Interactions

   This section should note what other drugs/food interact with the drug in question, and what effect(s) are produced by this interaction.

7. Contraindications

   Under what circumstances the drug in question should not be used?

8. Overdose

   This section describes symptoms of overdose, what to do in case of overdose, and the LD₅₀ (median lethal dose), if it's available.

9. Pharmacology

   Describe the chemistry of the drug, what structures it is comprised of, and what endogenous compound is affected by the drug. In the likely case of a neurotransmitter being the endogenous compound affected, details that should be stated include name of neurotransmittle class (e.g. catechloamines) and whether it is inhibitory or excitatory.

10. Pharmacokinetics

    List the major metabolic pathways of the drug (e.g. cytochrome P450 oxidase, monoamine oxidase, etc.), the metabolites of the drug (including active and non-active), and the absorption, bioavailability, protein binding, and elimination. This information is covered in small detail in the drugbox.

11. Physical/Chemical Properties

    Includes information on what physical form the drug appears in (i.e. salt or free acid), its freezing/melting/boiling points (if available), and the solubility of the drug.

12. Illicit Use

    If applicable, describe the recreational usage (i.e. abuse) and other illicit usage (for example, using flunitrazepam to facilitate robbery).

13. Legal Status

    If applicable.

14. References

    These are essential. Unreferenced "information" may be deleted or moved to the talk page. Be sure to obey Wikipedia:Attribution and Wikipedia:Reliable sources.

15. External Links

    Links to online pharmacies and blogs will be deleted.

16. Categories and Templates

    This is not a section — it comes after the last section in the article — but it is nonetheless an important part of any drug article. Look for similar articles to check for what categories they belong to. Add the article to any appropriate categories. If no similar articles can be found, add the article to any categories that seem appropriate. Must families of drugs already have a template; see Wikipedia:WikiProject Pharmacology/Templates for which template(s) to use, and Wikipedia:WikiProject Pharmacology/Categorization to choose from categories.

Please see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Pharmacology/General/Main sections of drug page for related discussion.

[edit] Naming conventions

Wikipedia policy on naming convention states that, "naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature." To that end, the World Health Organization International Nonproprietary Name (INN) forms the basis of this policy.

[edit] Drug pages to use INN

All drug pages should be named according to their International Nonproprietary Name (INN), also known as recommended International Nonproprietary Name (rINN), if one exists. For example, "paracetamol" and "acetaminophen" are names for a common analgesic. Paracetamol is the INN and is thus used as the page title. If a compound exists in salt form then only the INN of the active moiety should be used. For example, "chlorphenamine maleate" is the INN modified (INNM) of a common first-generation antihistamine. Only the chlorphenamine moeity is relevant for the antihistamine effect, thus the INN chlorphenamine is used as the page title. If an INN has yet to be formally listed by WHO, but a proposed INN (pINN) exists, it is considered to be equivalent to the INN with respect to this policy.

A page should mention other names early on in the text, and the naming reference noted if possible. Those other common names of the drug should redirect to that page. For example, the salbutamol page notes that "salbutamol" is the INN and "albuterol" is the United States Adopted Name (USAN) in the first sentence. Albuterol redirects to the salbutamol page.

[edit] Standard drug combinations

Since no international convention exists to guide naming of standard drug combinations, this policy encourages the use of page titles containing the active constituents separated by the slash ("/") character. For example, the standard combination of isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine, used to treat congestive heart failure in African Americans, is described in the page Isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine.

Where ambiguity exists as to the order in which drugs should be listed, the British Approved Name for the combination (if one exists) or the order used by the manufacturer of the innovator brand should be used as a guide. For example, although no BAN exists for isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine above, the manufacturer of the innovator brand "BiDil" lists the constituents in that order. Non-standard proprietary combination preparations are discouraged, and fall outside the scope of this policy. For example, a hypothetical "paracetamol/dextromethorphan/pseudoephedrine" page is discouraged and does not fall under this policy.

Please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Pharmacology/Workspace#Naming conventions.

[edit] Use ATC code

Each drug that has an ATC code, the ATC code(s) should be mentioned on the page. The ATC code should link to the lowest existing level of ATC codes that has its own page. e.g.:

• This drug is classified under ATC code A01AA13

instead of:

• This drug is classified under ATC code A01AA13

(see the source of this page for clarification on the above links)

A link to the drug should be put in the appropriate place on the ATC code page. Currently, the ATC pages are only broken down by first letter, they should probably be broken down at least one level further (first letter and two numbers). Sections 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' and 'G' are now broken down by into subgroups and all the drugs are listed on their pages.

Any drugs that don't have an ATC code should be placed somewhere on the project page so we can decide how to classify other drugs.