Find out what fellow doctors are saying about prescription medications

Sometimes the results of a clinical trial are very different from the real-world experience with a medication.

For doctors, there’s a free resource that lets them check what other physicians are saying about their patients’ experience with drugs.

Howard Barenfeld, M.D., a pediatrician from Monroe, New York, says he checks SERMO’s Drug Ratings about once a week.

“I have often looked to my peers for their input and experiences, to inform my treatment plans and deliver the best care to my patients. Real-world medicine is very different than clinical trials, making peer recommendations important to physicians. Drug Ratings brings this collaboration to scale in an unprecedented way,” said Barenfeld in a SERMO announcement.

SERMO, the global social network for physicians, says its Drug Ratings platform has grown tremendously in its first year. More than 40,000 physicians have submitted 625,000 individual ratings and comments on more than 2,100 pharmaceutical brands, the company said in an announcement. That makes it the largest global database providing physician feedback on drugs, SERMO says. More than 60,000 doctors have used the platform to search for ratings from peers, and the database includes 35,000 comments on physicians’ opinions on both new and established drugs.

A recent poll of more than 2,900 SERMO-member physicians by the company found that 84% believe Drug Ratings will lead to better patient outcomes. Some 83% of respondents said the opinion or feedback of a fellow physician changed their perception of a drug. And 80% said they trust recommendations of a large number of doctors with real-world experience with a drug over the recommendations of a small number of key opinion leaders and academics.

Comments from other doctors who have rated and commented on various medications have mostly affirmed his own observations in practice, Barenfeld said in an email to FierceHealthcare about his experience. “In pediatrics, many drugs have not been well studied, so knowing what other physicians do is certainly reassuring,” he says.

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For instance, physicians commonly prescribe antacids for babies with gastroesophageal reflux, he says. However, in clinical trials certain side effects were reported. “Rating and seeing other physicians’ ratings and experiences with these drugs has been quite helpful to me in my practice. Not only am I more comfortable with their use, but I am able to better talk to my patients about what to expect,” he says.

Barenfeld says he has posted comments many times about what he has found in his own practice about certain medications. There is no cost for physicians to rate drugs or become a SERMO member, he says.

Barenfeld’s experience is not unique. “When it comes to finding information about prescription drugs, doctors are often limited to what’s provided by the manufacturer,” Len Antiles, M.D., a New Jersey urologist, said in the SERMO announcement.

“In my experience, that does not capture the full picture of how patients experience drugs—including possible adverse effects, how much they pay out of pocket, and how well they work in the real world. Drug Ratings offers us the perspective and experience of our peers—which complements the information we get from product monographs and clinical trials,” Antiles said.

SERMO launched its Drug Ratings platform in May 2017 to provide a peer-to-peer drug review system. Using the website, physicians can research, rate and share their experience on the efficacy, safety, tolerability, accessibility and adherence of specific drugs.

“Doctors have always sought out the experiences of their peers to inform their practice of medicine, and Drug Ratings offers our members the ability to share and find aggregated feedback in real time,” said SERMO CEO Peter Kirk.

SERMO’s database isn’t the only online resource doctors are using. Both U.S. and Canadian doctors use the website deprescribingnetwork, which is maintained by the Canadian Deprescribing Network—a group that includes health professionals, policymakers and patient advocates—for guidelines on discontinuing patient medications.