“We are drowning in information and starving for knowledge” (Rutherford D. Roger).

This famous statement is as true for drug information as it is for many other scientific areas today. With the globalisation of access to computer based sources of drug information, this applies to developing and western countries alike. As for drug treatment, no matter how much information is available, there is still the need to search, sort, critically evaluate and digest the information into useful knowledge or guidance in any given therapeutic situation. This is one of the main goals of clinical pharmacology. In developing countries, just a few years ago, the lack of information concerning drugs, in parallel to the lack of the drugs themselves, was a major challenge. Today, with a growing access to both generic drugs, and information about drugs, the right use of available information is the key to success. The more scarce the economical resources, the more there is to gain from the critical use of drug information, both on a community level and for the benefit of the individual patient.

The task of gathering and critically evaluating drug information can be performed on several levels: by individual physicians or prescribers, by local Drugs and Therapeutics Committees, by national authorities or by large international organisations, like the Cochrane Collaboration. This chapter will more specifically deal with the concept and function of the Drug Information Centre.