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Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998;152:609-610.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR) is often legally held to be the "Bible" for the standard of medical usage of pharmaceutical drugs. However, the PDR is merely a collection of the various package inserts of most of the available medications and a picture of the stated drug. It is provided free to physicians and is sold for profit to various entities, including the general public at bookstores. Thus, all of its information regarding the highlighted drugs is provided by the respective pharmaceutical companies.

A simple first observation is that the PDR could be viewed as a collection of advertisements written by drug companies. It certainly is not a coherent discussion of the various drugs that might be used for various medical situations, nor is there any discussion of specific indications why one drug might be indicated instead of another. In truth, it is a hodgepodge of information about . . . [Full Text of this Article]