Spikes in search engine data predict when drugs will be recalled

Could internet searches identify dodgy drugs? A Microsoft researcher has trained an algorithm to predict whether a drug will be recalled, using queries made through Microsoft's Bing search engine. "We know that every once in a while there will be a batch of a pharmaceutical drug that will have something wrong about it," says Elad Yom-Tov at Microsoft Research in Israel. "People will start asking about that drug more often or more than they usually do." Pharmaceutical companies and regulators such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) monitor drugs on the market to keep tabs on adverse effects and potential faulty batches.