( n using PPC's system can identify sound...)Computer scientist sorts out confusable drug names

n using PPC's system can identify sound-alike and look-alike drug names with great accuracy in a matter of seconds," he added. Drug companies covet finding good, short drug names that are easy to remember, Kondrak noted, adding, "the FDA and other drug agencies need to balance this against confusing the names with existing ones--it's a serious problem."

Kondrak co-authored a paper on this topic that was recently published in the journal Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. Earlier, he gave a presentation to Health Canada officials, who are interested in following the FDA's lead in addressing the problem of confusing drug names.

A number of linguists and computer scientists are also now using Kondrak's ALINE for various purposes, and he is pleased his software, once criticized as being useless, is much in demand, though he does not charge anyone to use it.

"If anyone asks for it, I just give it to them," Kondrak said. "I was a funded researcher, and I look at it as my responsibility to share what I've learned and what I've done."

"When you do basic research sometimes you don't know how it might become of use, but if this software helps to reduce even just 10 per cent of prescription errors in the U.S. that translates into helping a lot of people, and it's very satisfying to contribute to that."

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Source:University of Alberta


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