Best Buy Drugs produced by Consumer Reports magazine and funded by the National Library of Medicine and the Engelberg Foundation is a web site to help patients learn about more affordable drug treatment options which they can discuss their physician. The site compares drugs based on current scientific evidence and provides easy-to-read reports about the effectiveness, safety and cost of many widely used prescription drugs.

Currently they have published reports on:

• Antihistamines: Drugs to treat allergies and hay fever
• Calcium Channel Blockers: Drugs to treat angina & blood pressure
• NSAIDs: Drugs to treat osteoarthritis and pain
• ACE Inhibitors: Drugs to treat high blood pressure & heart failure
• Beta-Blockers: Drugs to treat high blood pressure & heart disease
• Antidepressants: Drugs to treat depression
• Statins: Cholesterol-lowering drugs
• PPIs: Drugs to treat heartburn and ulcers

Upcoming Drug Reports:

• Drugs to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Estrogens: Drugs to treat symptoms of menopause
• Drugs to treat Alzheimer's Disease
• Drugs to treat diabetes
• Drugs to treat urinary incontinence

Drug categories will be added at the rate of about one per month after the initial launch. Over time that will have reports on drugs in approximately 24 categories, including those to treat allergies, diabetes, infections, pain and depression. According to Best Buy Drugs, as early as 2006,it will have information on most of the most commonly used prescription medicines in the U.S. today.

This site looks like it has some real potential for patients, community health libraries, and some public libraries. One criticism I have is that you can not search individually for a drug, you must search according to the condition for which you are taking the drug. It will be very interesting to see how this site shakes out.