How Direct Meds Checks Medicine Listings

Direct Meds uses medicine information to help visitors identify and compare a listing. It is not a replacement for a patient leaflet, a medicine regulator or personal advice from a doctor or pharmacist.

The details we aim to show

Where the catalogue data contains them, a listing can show:

  • the product and active-ingredient name
  • strength, dosage form and administration route
  • pack size and available offer combinations
  • recorded brand and manufacturer information
  • whether an originator name is used as a reference
  • the current price returned for an available offer

Not every source provides every field. We leave missing information absent rather than inventing a manufacturer, indication, quality claim or medical explanation.

Brand names, generics and product identity

We organise the catalogue around active ingredients because brand names can change between countries. A generic product may share an active ingredient and strength with an originator while differing in manufacturer, inactive ingredients, appearance, packaging or available form.

“Generic equivalent” is not shorthand for “contains the same ingredient”. Whether two finished products are interchangeable depends on the specific product and the applicable regulatory assessment. Direct Meds therefore does not make a blanket interchangeability claim from an ingredient match alone.

How we use sources

For medicine facts, we favour the source closest to the product or regulatory decision: official product information, manufacturers’ documents, medicine regulators and public-health bodies. We use recognised clinical guidance and established medicine references where primary material is incomplete.

For South African questions about medicines, registration or importation, SAHPRA is the appropriate starting point. For general medicine information, relevant public sources include the World Health Organization, the European Medicines Agency, the UK MHRA and the US FDA.

We do not treat testimonials, anonymous health sites or copied affiliate pages as evidence for medical, regulatory or quality claims.

What this does not establish

A product page does not establish that a medicine is registered in South Africa, can be supplied to a particular person or destination, or is suitable for a particular condition. Those questions need the relevant evidence and, where appropriate, professional advice.