Getting started
Evidence Health explains what official sources say about medicines and common conditions, in plain language, and shows you where every statement came from.
It’s information to help you understand your care and prepare questions. It isn’t medical advice: it won’t diagnose you, choose a dose for you, or tell you to start or stop a medicine. Those decisions are for you and your doctor or pharmacist.
- No account needed to look up medicines, read about conditions or compare medicines.
- A free account lets you ask questions, save your medicines and get help with a report.
Look up a medicine
Type a medicine’s name in the search box on the home page. You’ll get a leaflet built from its official U.S. FDA label: what it’s used for, how it’s taken, who shouldn’t take it, serious warnings, common side effects, other medicines, pregnancy and breastfeeding, and what to do if you take too much.
- Serious warnings and recalls appear at the top, so you can’t miss them. A recall affects specific batches, not necessarily the pack you have.
- Reactions people have reported are reports to the FDA, not how often a side effect happens, and they don’t prove the medicine caused it.
- Why you can trust this, at the bottom, lists the exact labels used, with a link to each on DailyMed.
- Printable summary gives you a one-page sheet to take to an appointment.
Ask a question
On Ask a question, type your question in everyday words, such as “Who shouldn’t take metformin?” or “Can I drink alcohol with sertraline?”. You need to be signed in.
- Follow-up questions work. After asking about metformin, you can ask “what about its side effects?”.
- Ask for the answer you want: “in short”, “in simple words”, “as a list” or “in more detail”.
- Plain language or Professional. Plain language explains terms and leaves out dose amounts. Professional keeps clinical terms and quotes the label’s numbers, including its dosing text.
- Region. Choose your country so emergency guidance shows the right number. Our labels are from the U.S.; if you’re elsewhere, answers remind you that products and advice can differ.
- Questions are sent to an AI provider to write the answer, so don’t include your name or other personal details.
Reading an answer
An answer is built only from official label passages. It has:
- A short summary, then what the label says, and any risks and cautions.
- Numbers in small boxes next to each statement. Click one to see the exact passage it came from.
- What this doesn’t tell you: what the label doesn’t cover.
- Questions to ask your doctor or pharmacist.
- “N statements were left out”: before you see an answer, every statement is checked against its source, and anything the source doesn’t support is removed.
- Why should I trust this? shows how strong the evidence is (High, Moderate or Low) and why: how official the source is, how directly it answers your question, how recent it is, and whether it applies in your country. It describes the evidence, not your chances of anything.
- General background, in a dashed box, is a simple definition that doesn’t come from an official source.
If the labels don’t cover your question, the answer says so rather than guessing. If something looks wrong, use Report a problem with this answer: a medical reviewer will check it against its sources.
If it might be an emergency
Don’t wait for a website. Call your local emergency number. If you describe an emergency in Ask (for example taking too many pills, chest pain, trouble breathing, signs of a stroke, or thoughts of harming yourself), you’ll see your country’s emergency number straight away instead of an answer.
Conditions
Conditions has plain-language guides to 55 common conditions from MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine), grouped by body system. Each guide covers what the condition is, its causes and symptoms where MedlinePlus describes them, when to get urgent help, the medicines whose labels mention it, and questions for your doctor. Search fixes small spelling mistakes and asks “Did you mean…?” first.
Compare two medicines
Compare shows two medicines’ labels side by side, section by section. You can type a generic name or a brand name. If a name looks misspelled, you’ll be asked “Did you mean…?” before anything is compared.
This is not an interaction check. It doesn’t tell you whether two medicines are safe to take together; ask your pharmacist.
Understand a report
On Understand a report, paste the text of a discharge letter, clinic letter or lab report, or choose a .txt file. We’ll pick out the medicines, conditions and test results it mentions.
- You check what we found. Untick anything wrong. Items marked “Check” were matched loosely, so compare them with your report.
- Only what you keep is saved, and you can add the medicines to your saved list.
- Your report stays as written, separate from our explanations. We don’t interpret your results; ask your clinician what they mean for you.
- Private: reports are encrypted, read on our own server only, and never sent to an AI provider. Delete a report, and everything found in it goes too.
My medicines
On any medicine page, choose Save to my medicines. Your list is on your account page, and a warning appears if one of them has a recall on record.
Your account and data
- Signing up: enter your details and country; we email you a 6-digit code to confirm your address. The code expires after 15 minutes. If it doesn’t arrive, check spam or use “send a new code”.
- Forgot your password? Use the link on the sign-in page; we’ll email a reset link that works for one hour.
- Your country can be changed on your account page.
- Download my data gives you everything we hold about you: your account, consents, saved medicines, questions and answers, and reports.
- Delete my account permanently removes your account and all of the above.
More detail is in our privacy notice.
Common questions
Why won’t it tell me my dose?
The right dose depends on things only your prescriber knows, such as your other conditions, kidney function and other medicines. Your prescription label and pharmacist are the right place to check it.
Why did it say it doesn’t have enough evidence?
It answers only from official labels for about 110 common medicines. If the labels don’t cover a question, or the medicine isn’t in our library yet, it says so rather than guessing. Naming the medicine often helps.
Why do I need an account to ask questions?
Every answer is written by an AI and checked against its sources, so we limit how many questions each account can ask. Browsing medicines, conditions and comparisons stays open to everyone.
Is this information right for my country?
It comes from U.S. sources. Brand names, strengths and advice can differ elsewhere, so check with a local pharmacist.
Can it check whether two medicines are safe together?
Not yet. That needs a licensed interaction database, which we don’t have yet. Ask your pharmacist.