Advanced Search lets you search for words or phrases that are present or absent in one or more sections of the SmPC.
Examples of questions which can be answered by Advanced Search are:
- Are there any paracetamol tablets that do not contain lactose?
- Which drugs are licensed to treat rheumatoid arthritis?
- Are there any treatments for hypertension (high blood pressure) that do not cause a particular side effect?
You can use Advanced Search in two ways. You can search by words or phrases, or by SmPC sections.
By Word or Phrase
Phrases
If you want to search for an exact phrase, use the "This exact phrase" box.
This search will only find documents where the words are an exact word match.
Searching for multiple words
To find multiple words that do not need to be next to each other in the document, use the "All these words" box.
To find documents when specific terms are unknown, use the "At least one of these words" box (This is also useful if finding multiple product characteristics in one search).
The "None of these words" box can be used in conjunction with the other boxes to exclude certain search results.
The word order does not affect the results. Eye drops will find the same results as drops eye.
Combining search words using and, or, & not
- Rheumatoid and arthritis = both the words rheumatoid and arthritis (Do not use & to combine search words).
- Rheumatoid or arthritis = either the word rheumatoid or the word arthritis.
- Rheumatoid not arthritis = the word rheumatoid but not the word arthritis.
Automatic word stems
When a word is searched, this word, plus any other words in a document that start with this word stem, are also searched for.
For example, if you search for pain, Advanced Search also find documents containing the words painful, painfully, and painkiller.
If you do not want to search for other word stems, add double quotation marks around the word. For example, "pain".
Capital letters
emc is not case sensitive and so searching for paracetamol and PARACETAMOL will find the same results.
Using brackets
emc will search for your words in the order you type them running from left to right. If you place brackets around search words, emc will search for these first and will then search for other words.
For example:
- X or Y and Z = documents containing X then documents that contain Y and Z, but no documents where both X and Y are found. The two searches will be combined, presenting the results in alphabetical order.
- X or (Y and Z) = documents containing X then documents that contain both Y and Z. The two searches will be combined, presenting the results in alphabetical order.
- X and Y or Z = documents containing X and Y then documents that contain Z. The two searches will be combined, presenting the results in alphabetical order.
- X and (Y or Z) = documents containing the word X then documents that contain either Y or Z. The two searches will be combined, presenting the results in alphabetical order.
- (W and X) or (Y and Z) = documents containing both W and X then documents containing Y and Z. The two searches will be combined, presenting the results in alphabetical order.
By SmPC Section
Use the drop down list to choose the section of the SmPC you want to search. (If you are not sure which section to search, read our SmPC guide in the glossary)
Choose either "contains" (the word or phrase is in the SmPC section) or "does not contain" (the word or phrase is not in the SmPC section).
Type in your search word or words. Click Add and repeat the steps to build your search. Then click search. You can edit or delete a search entry if you need to.
Top Tip ✅
Each SmPC section can only be selected once.
Multiple search terms can be added for each search section and can be combined with and, or, & not.
Search by section does not search for synonyms and so searching for heart will not find cardiac. You might need to type in synonyms to cover all the options. For example heart or cardiac.
Matching word stems are automatically found. For example typing in tablet will find tablets. Cap will find capsule, caplet, etc.