Q. How do I cite a prescription insert in APA 7 format?

Let’s say you’re exploring treatments for head lice and need to cite the pharmaceutical information for Ulesfia lotion. There are three main components you will need for all three citation options:

• Who is responsible for the content of the package insert? The distributor is listed on the insert as Shionogi Pharma, so we’ll put that in the author position (in accordance with our principle of “cite what you see”).

• When was it made? The date on the insert is 2010, so that goes in the date position.

• What is the document called? The title at the top of the insert (Highlights of Prescribing Information) is not too informative, but together with the name of the product, it should do the trick.
   

To cite the pharmaceutical insert from the prescription package, your reference looks like this:

Shionogi Pharma. (2010). Ulesfia lotion: Highlights of prescribing information.

In-text citation: (Shionogi Pharma, 2010)

If you retrieved the prescribing information from the manufacturer’s website you would cite it like this:

Shionogi Pharma. (2010). Ulesfia lotion: Highlights of prescribing information. http://www.ulesfialotion.com/pdf/Ulesfia_Prescribing_Information.pdf

In-text citation: (Shionogi Pharma, 2010)

However, if your interest in pediculicides were purely academic, you might have downloaded the product insert from the FDA website, in which case you would cite it like this:

Shionogi Pharma. (2010). Ulesfia lotion: Highlights of prescribing information. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/drugsatfda/index.cfm

In-text citation: (Shionogi Pharma, 2010)

Reproduced (& adapted for APA 7) from the APA blog website: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2012/05/how-to-cite-product-inserts-in-apa-style.html

For more information APA 7 Citation rules, please visit the Netter Library APA 7 Citation Help Guide.