OVERVIEW

The best prescription drugs have a good chance of making a patient better without inflicting any worrisome unwanted side effects.  But drugs differ in how well they do this: some are more beneficial than others while some are safer than others.

The ideal drug for any medical condition would be both beneficial and safe, but often the most beneficial drug isn't the safest and the safest drug isn't the most beneficial.  It is the balance between benefits and safety that is an important consideration in decisions about which drug to prescribe.

DrugRanks evaluates the evidence and its clinical relevance to arrive at an overall rank ordering of drugs for a given medical condition.  To view the categories of drugs evaluated so far, click here.

Each page begins with details about the experts who assessed the drugs for that medical condition. Scrolling down the page reveals more detailed information about the favourable and unfavourable effects.  Illustrated here for RRMS.
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1. The Options

• Drugs ordered for their benefit-safety balance
• Rated on a zero-to-100 scale of preference value
• A quick, comparative view of each drug

2. Bar graphs

• Overall ratings separately for benefits and safety
• Light blue, more benefits. Dark blue, more safety
• Reveals the trade-offs between drugs​

3. Benefits versus Safety

• Scatterplot graph shows dominance relationships
• Which drugs are better than others for their benefits, or safety, or both benefits and safety
• Helps to eliminate the poorer drugs

4. Effects Table

• Shows how well each drug performs for the favourable and unfavourable effects
• Green: best for benefits. Red: worst for safety
• Enables decisions to be tailored for each individual patient ​