What is The Medical Letter?
The Medical Letter is a nonprofit organization that publishes critical appraisals of new prescription drugs and comparative reviews of drugs for common diseases in its newsletter, The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics.
Since 1959, the Medical Letter’s newsletter has allowed medical professionals to stay up to date with new drugs and therapeutics in the industry.
The Medical Letter is committed to providing the most up-to-date information and material on drugs and treatments of common diseases. Many pharmaceutical companies provide inaccurate and misleading data on their drugs, greatly exaggerating therapeutic effects or adverse effects. The Medical Letter makes it easy for busy medical professionals to be able to read up on these drugs in an unbiased and truthful way.
They also have a self-study program based on their newsletter that is specifically tailored to medical professionals including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and pharmacists.
How do you earn CME credits with The Medical Letter?
Each issue of The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics comes with a 10-question exam which subscribers can complete and submit online or mailed in to earn 2 CME credits per activity, earning up to 52 in credits total.
Users must score at least 70% on the exam to earn their CME credits. If you answer incorrectly, you are given 2 additional chances to get the right answer.
There are also 2 semi-annual Comprehensive exams per year (January and July) available in print or online. The January Comprehensive Exam contains questions related to content published in the newsletter during the six month period (July-December) immediately preceding the exam. The July Comprehensive Exam contains questions related to content published in the newsletter during the six month period (January-June) immediately preceding the exam.
While it is encouraged to be a subscriber in order to have access to all articles and exams, non-subscribers can order individual exams on The Medical Letter's website anytime for $15 per exam or $10 for 3 or more exams. Non-subscribers can also order the print Comprehensive Exam by calling their customer service number.
What topics does The Medical Letter cover?
The Medical Letter focuses on new and upcoming drugs, detailing both their therapeutic effects and adverse effects in an unbiased manner. Each issue will cover a few drugs for various disorders and diseases, which are then covered in the exam. Below are a list of some of the drugs their latest issues have covered:
- Reduction of Cardiovascular Risk with Icosapent Ethyl (Vascepa)
- Drospirenone (Slynd) - A New Progestin-Only Oral Contraceptive
- Istradefylline (Nourianz) for Parkinson's Disease
- Brolucizumab (Beovu) for Age-Related Macular Degeneration
- Peanut Allergen Powder (Palforzia)
- Lasmiditan (Reyvow) and Ubrogepant (Ubrelvy) for Acute Treatment of Migraine
- Consensi - A Fixed-Dose Combination of Amlodipine and Celecoxib
- Addendum: Drug Interaction between Opioids and Oral P2Y12 Platelet Inhibitors
- Two Drugs for Sickle Cell Disease: Crizanlizumab (Adakveo) and Voxelotor (Oxbryta)
- Bempedoic Acid (Nexletol) for Lowering LDL-Cholesterol
- Intravenous Cetirizine (Quzyttir) for Acute Urticaria
- Some drugs for COVID-19
- Drugs for depression
- Drugs for ADHD
Benefits of The Medical Letter CME
Distinctive Editorial Process
A first draft is prepared by one of The Medical Letter’s in-house or contributing editors or by an outside expert. The draft is then sent to the 10-20 reviewers with clinical and/or experimental experience with drugs under review, to the FDA, and to the first and last authors of all the articles cited in the text. They incorporate all critical observations and suggestions sent back into the next draft of the article, editing it until it’s both extremely accurate and easy to read.
Unbiased Content
The Medical Letter is supported by its readers and does not take any commercial support or accept any advertising in its publications. This combined with the editorial process helps ensure that the content is unbiased.
Easy to Use and Earn CME
Simply take the exam and submit its completion online or through the mail to receive your certificate, proving you’ve earned AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.
Convenient Mobile App
With an app available on iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire, you can browse past issues of The Medical Letter and earn CME on the go with ease.
Online and Print Access
While most clinicians have trended towards earning their CME online, the Medical Letter does offer print publications for those who prefer a more traditional method. They can also complete the exam needed to earn CME credits in a written format.
