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Medicines

Revised: 29 May 2013

Consumer Medicine Information

• What is CMI?
• Who writes CMI?
• Can't find a CMI?
• Consumers' Rights
• Queries about CMI
• Commercial use

Use the search options below to find Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) on this website.

Alphabetical listing of Consumer Medicine Information

To see an alphabetical listing of Consumer Medicine Information for the active ingredients in cough and cold medicines

OR

1. To find a CMI, enter the medicine's trade (brand) name or active ingredient or sponsor (company) name in the "Search for" field below. The name of the medicine on the dispensing label is either the trade name or the generic name. If it is the generic name, use the "Ingredient name" option to get the CMI of the various brands of medicines with that generic name, or ask your pharmacist what the trade name is.
2. Select the type of search in the "In" field, then click the "Search" button.

Search for:

This will search for anything starting with the letters entered above.
To find the letters in any part of the field enter "%" as the first character.

In: Trade name Ingredient name Sponsor name   

Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) are published on the Medsafe website in Portable Document Format (PDF). To read a PDF you need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download the latest free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website.

What is CMI?

CMI is useful information about your medicine and is written especially for you. CMI contains advice such as what the medicine is used for, how it should be taken, what side effects can occur, whether you can drive or drink alcohol while taking the medicine, and what to do if you miss a dose. However, CMI do not contain all the available information about the medicine. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions or concerns about taking the medicine.

Who Writes CMI?

Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for producing CMI. However, in New Zealand there are no legal requirements for them to do so. The CMIs that are on this website have been written by pharmaceutical companies, using Guidelines set by Medsafe. The companies self-assess what information goes in each CMI against the requirements of the Guidelines. Medsafe does not evaluate or approve CMIs, therefore Medsafe is not responsible for the information contained in a CMI.

Can't Find a CMI?

Each month, more CMIs are added to this website. If you cannot find a CMI for your medicine, it is most likely because the pharmaceutical company that makes or distributes your medicine has not yet written the CMI. Your doctor or pharmacist should be able to provide you with the information you need.

Consumers' Rights

Patients have the right to treatment that meets appropriate ethical and professional standards, including the right to be fully informed about the risks and benefits relating to efficacy and safety of medicines. A full copy of the Code of Consumers' Rights is available on the Health and Disability Commissioner's web site.

Queries about CMI

Queries about the content of CMI should be directed to the pharmaceutical company (name and contact details are included at the end of each CMI). If you believe the CMI breaches the Guidelines, then forward your concern to the CMI Co-ordinator at Medsafe (Head Office) who will investigate the issue.

Commercial Use

Commercial use (i.e. the on-selling) of the CMI available on the Medsafe web site requires permission to be sought and obtained from the sponsors (pharmaceutical companies) of the medicines concerned.