SPS resources

SPS produces some medicines and condition-specific advice during pregnancy which we would always advise checking first.

You may be interested in our other pages in this area:  Questions to ask when giving advice on medicines in pregnancy, Assessing risk v benefit and informing the treatment decision, Principles of prescribing in pregnancy and Formulating your advice about use of medicines in pregnancy.

If the information is not available on the SPS website or the information resources listed, or if your clinical scenario is complex, we would suggest you seek further advice from the Medicines Advice service.

Primary resource suggestions

In addition to our own resources, we particularly recommend the following:

UK Teratology Information Service

• UKTIS produce evidence-based information on fetal risk for medicines and chemical exposures during pregnancy.
• There is open access to UKTIS pregnancy summaries for healthcare professionals.
• More detailed UKTIS information for health care professionals is available on TOXBASE^®
• We recommend the patient-facing information factsheets available on BUMPS (‘Best Use of Medicines in Pregnancy’); useful in discussions between pregnant women and their partners and their healthcare provider e.g. pharmacist, GP or midwife.

NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries and Guidelines

• NICE has specific Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) and Guidelines on conditions in pregnancy and others that provide some advice on the management of conditions in pregnancy.
• There is also guidance on general pregnancy-related care such as nutrition and weight management.

The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

• RCOG publish Green-top Guidelines and patient information leaflets on a range of conditions in pregnancy.

Medicines Learning Portal

• We recommend the Medicines Learning Portal to support the training of the pharmacy team.
• It contains a tutorial on pregnancy

Other resources

Electronic Medicines Compendium

• The eMC has Summaries of Product Characteristics (SmPCs) and Patient Information Leaflets (PILs).
• This information clarifies the licensed status of a medicine’s use in pregnancy and is not clinical advice. Manufacturers generally take a very cautious approach because of a lack of data. Confirmation that a product is licensed in pregnancy can be very useful in making treatment recommendations.
• This should not be used as a sole information source for medicines in pregnancy questions.

BNF

• BNF statements on use of medicines during pregnancy are brief and may be based largely on SmPC statements. As such, the information is generally over cautious and gives little additional guidance over and above the SmPC.

NHS website: Medicines A-Z

• The NHS Medicines A-Z contains information for patients on a wide range of commonly used medicines, including over the counter medicines.
• A short statement about use in pregnancy is included for each medicine.

Briggs’ Drugs in Pregnancy & Lactation

• Briggs’ is a US reference source and requires a subscription.
• Drug monographs are listed in alphabetical order.
• Quarterly updates are available via online access (also integrated as part of the monograph content).
• Provides in-depth data and specialist information which should be interpreted with care.

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