Frequently asked questions

The working group responsible for updating the Meds75+ includes experts in pharmacotherapy for older people, who are located in different parts of Finland and work in health care and universities, including in the fields of geriatrics, pharmacy and clinical pharmacology. The working group also includes representatives of Fimea. The working group may also invite external experts to attend individual meetings and, if necessary, supplement the working group with new members on the basis of their expertise. The working group monitors the latest research data and national and international recommendations for pharmacotherapy. The working group works by discussing the suitability of pharmaceutical substances for older people to find a consensus.

Pharmaceutical substances used in primary health care that have been acquired by at least 500 users in the age group aged 75 or over during the year are included in the Meds75+. Other medicines may also be included in the database on basis of a decision by the expert working group.  Medicines may also be added to the database after users submit a well-reasoned proposal for this. 

The number of users of medicines is reviewed once a year on the basis of the annual purchases of medicines by the National Prescription Centre. The number of users of individual medicines may decrease below 500 users over the years. However, often these medicines are still included in the Meds75+.  The new medicines included in the review will be discussed at the Meds75+ working group meeting as soon as possible, at the latest within six months.

Information on purchases of medicines in the National Prescription Centre do not contain over-the-counter medicines. The inclusion of over-the-counter medicines in the Meds75+ is based on the decision by the expert working group.

The most common reasons for the removal of medicine substances from the Meds75+ are that the medicine is no longer marketed or the medicinal product requires a special permit.

The pharmaceutical substance classification (A, B, C, D) describes the suitability of the pharmaceutical substance for use by people aged 75 or over. The evaluation of a pharmaceutical substance includes five elements: restrictions on use, recommended doses interactions, risk of adverse effects and adverse effects. The data is collected on a medicine-specific information card, the maintenance and timeliness of which is Fimea’s responsibility. As a rule, summaries of drug characteristics and suitable databases (e.g. Terveysportti databases, Micromedex©) are used as information sources. In addition, the inclusion of the drug in other international criteria for drugs the use of which should be avoided will be checked. In addition, a literature search is conducted for each pharmaceutical substance in the PubMed database covering at least the last five years.

The Meds75+ is available free of charge to health care professionals, medicine users and their families through Fimea's Medicines Search. The Meds75+ is available in Finnish, Swedish and English.

Health care professionals can access the Meds75+ through the Terveysportti Duodecim medicine database Older people and medicines section and the Association of Finnish Pharmacy’s Salko database. Application developers can also integrate the Meds75+ into their own data products (e.g. information systems). 

Users of the Meds75+ can send feedback on the contents and state changes that need to be implemented and the grounds for these changes, the working group will then discuss these. Send any feedback or questions with the Fimea contact form.

For preparing the information card, the medication is checked to determine if it meets the following criteria: Beers, STOPP/START, EU(7)-PIM, Sweden’s indicators for the pharmacotherapy of older people, STOPPFall, PRISCUS and NORGEP. As a rule, the classification of the working group follows the classifications used by other criteria. The working group's policy is based on an independent joint consensus, which may for a justified reason deviate from the recommendations of other criteria and sources of information. The references to the criteria used by the working group are listed at the end of the Meds75+ page.

The evaluation data for pharmaceutical substances is collected on substance-specific information cards, the maintenance and timeliness of which Fimea is responsible for. The information cards were prepared to support the working group's work and they will not be disclosed to third parties.