Using COMPARE

Quick start

1. Open COMPARE and type a brand name or an active ingredient in Product 1, such as Lipitor or atorvastatin.
2. To compare, add a second and a third product in the other boxes. One product is enough to read its label.
3. Press Enter or Show labels. COMPARE picks the best-matching label for each product.
4. Use the menu on the left to pick the section: indications, dosage, warnings, adverse reactions and so on.

Searching

COMPARE looks at the brand name, the generic name and the active substance. It finds the words as a phrase, so atorvastatin calcium works but a half word such as atorva does not.

• Which label is shown. Many drugs have several labels, for example one per generic manufacturer. COMPARE shows the one whose name matches your words, preferring prescription labels. Labels from repackagers are left out. To pick a specific manufacturer, choose it from the list that appears as you type.
• Over the counter. Products such as pain relievers are found too. If a name has both a prescription and an over-the-counter label, the prescription one is shown first and the other is in Other labels.
• Nothing found. Try the active ingredient instead of a brand, or check the spelling. Some labels have no product link in the FDA data and cannot be found by name. Vaccines and most biologic medicines are not in this data at all.

Comparing labels

The products you entered are the columns, in the order you entered them. The menu on the left lists every section that at least one label has, grouped as About, Use, Safety, Science and Supply and patients. Click a section and all the columns switch to it, so the same section lines up across drugs.

• Label facts is a small closed box above the columns. Open it to see manufacturer, route, drug class, application number and label date side by side. A Boxed warning tag shows under a label's name when it has one.
• A small count such as 2/3 next to a section means only two of the three labels have it. The others show Not in this label.
• Numbers like 5.1 mark the subsections of newer-format labels. Older labels have none, and COMPARE puts their separate warnings and precautions sections under the same heading.
• Tables, such as adverse reaction rates, are shown in full in each column. COMPARE does not match their rows or numbers across labels, so read them side by side.
• Remove takes a label out of the comparison. With one left you can still read it, and Back to search returns to the home page.
• On a phone the columns scroll sideways.

Marking differences

Tick Mark words that differ from the first label to highlight wording in the later labels that is not in the first one. A badge says Same wording as the first label when a section matches. Capital letters and punctuation are ignored.

The first label is the reference. To change it, go back and enter the products in the order you want.

This shows differences in wording. It does not say which differences matter. The same meaning written in a different order can show up as many marked words.

Links and printing

• Copy link saves the comparison, with the section and the marking you chose, as a link anyone can open.
• Print prints the section you are looking at without the menus. Use it to save a PDF.

Limits

• Label text can be out of date. Always check DailyMed or the manufacturer for the current version.
• Images, such as structure drawings and charts, are not part of the data.
• Text is cleaned for reading (headings that repeat are removed, subsections are separated). Wording is never changed. Open DailyMed to see the original layout.

The Method page explains how labels are organized and what is left out.

Questions

Is anything I type stored?

No. Your search words go to the FDA service to find labels. Nothing is saved by COMPARE.

A section is missing from a label.

Labels do not all have every section. Older labels use different sections from newer ones, and COMPARE shows what each label contains.

Why do I see an error about the service being busy?

The FDA service limits how many requests one connection can make in a minute. Wait a minute and try again.

Can I compare more than three labels?

Not at the moment. Three columns are about the most that stay readable on a screen.