Physicians using the Apple iPhone as their mobile device of choice now have another clinical resource at their disposal.

Drugs.com, an online compendium of clinical drug and related health information, has launched a professional edition for the iPhone.

According to officials at Drugs.com, the new mobile edition provides physicians and healthcare professionals with a free drug information service that offers access to medication summaries, dosing information, warnings and built-in drug interactions for all medications commonly used in the United States.

Marketed as the largest drug information resource on the Web, Drugs.com provides free, peer-reviewed drug information to both consumers and healthcare professionals. The Drugsite Trust, a privately held trust operated by a team of pharmacists and medical writers, publishes the Web site.

The Drugs.com iPhone edition can be accessed by any person with an iPhone who is a registered member of Drugs.com anywhere there is WiFi or network access.

Using this tool, physicians can increase their productivity by being able to quickly find the answers they need to make informed decisions, said Philip Thornton, CEO and founder of Drugs.com. Unlike installed applications, he said, the Drugs.com mobile edition offers information that is updated in real-time.

"With an estimated 100,000 deaths annually due to adverse drug events, there is an increasing demand for drug-information tools that can assist healthcare professionals in making more informed clinical decisions and to achieve better patient outcomes," said Thornton. "It's a powerful resource to enhance patient care and assure that medications, their side effects, potential interactions with other drugs or foods and contraindications with other conditions do not go unnoticed."

Thornton called the mobile edition a "one-stop drug reference" and emphasized site features like predictive search capabilities, up-to-date medication summaries, dosage information and an interactions checker.

The release of Drugs.com's iPhone edition appears to be timed to take advantage of the hype surrounding the unveiling of the 3G iPhone, which Apple says will combine a best-in-class mobile browser with the fast online access provided by a 3G connection.