[Comparative study of French drug data banks]

We proposed a set of 9 criteria to evaluate computerized French drug data banks currently available on the Minitel, medical software, or the Web. These criteria are used for testing the scientific quality of the information provided in terms of reliability and completeness. They round off the nine criteria proposed in a previous study for sole drug interactions. None of the drug data banks is better than the others on all the selected dimensions. But the methodology presented should allow a particular user with defined needs to weigh up the criteria and optimize his choice.