Product update
New on emc: Change notifications, helping professional users stay up to date
Aug 17, 2026
emc change notifications has launched, giving healthcare professionals and other professional emc users automated email alerts when the medicines information that matters to them changes.
Tara Protheroe
Product Manager, Datapharm
emc change notifications has launched on emc (medicines.org.uk), enabling healthcare professionals (HCPs) and other professional users to subscribe to automated email alerts for the products and documents that interest them.
Subscribers will receive an email whenever a relevant document that they've signed up for is published on emc - such as a new or updated SmPC, PIL, or aRMM. The notification will let them know what has changed, with a direct link back to emc. It is a simple way to stay abreast of the latest medicines information, without needing to manually check emc.
Watch the video tutorial on change notifications
Helping professionals stay up to date
Keeping track of changes to medicines information takes time. SmPCs and PILs are updated frequently, and professionals need to be confident they are working from the latest version. emc change notifications makes this easier:
- Choose the products and documents you want to follow, and only hear about those
- Receive an automated notification email, whenever a chosen document is published or updated on emc
- You can receive alerts as soon as changes happen, or as a weekly summary
- Emails follow a standardised template managed by Datapharm - they are consistent, easy to scan, and link back to the Changes History page (SmPCs and PILs) or the document (aRMMs) on emc
What's next
Change notifications launched on Friday 24 July, and we have already seen strong initial interest. We will continue to develop the service based on feedback, including refinements to the email design and how users manage their subscriptions.
To share feedback, contact the Datapharm Service Desk at [email protected] or speak with your Key Account Manager.
emc change notifications FAQs
Any registered professional emc user, including HCPs and Regulatory and Pharma professionals, can choose which products to subscribe to. Users currently need to subscribe to each product's updates individually.
If users have chosen to be notified as changes happen, emails are sent at 12pm UTC on the day of, or the day after, the change is published. For example, if a change is published at 10am on a Tuesday, the email arrives that day; if it is published at 3pm on a Tuesday, the email is sent at 12pm UTC on the Wednesday.
If users have chosen a weekly notification, they will receive an aggregated list of any changes from the previous week at 12pm UTC on Friday.
You will receive a notification any time a relevant document is published on emc for a product you follow, for example an update to, or a new, SmPC, PIL or aRMM.
The email contains the product name, the company name, the relevant documents, and a link to the changes history (for SmPCs and PILs) or the up-to-date PDF document (for aRMMs) on emc. Where there have been multiple updates within the daily or weekly time period, these are collated into a single email.
No. Notifications are sent automatically following the product or document update on emc. There is currently no functionality to withdraw a notification, but if the document is updated again, a new email is sent.
No. emc change notifications is included in the emc Regulatory subscription.
No. The email content follows a set template that is managed by Datapharm, and there is currently no ability for pharmaceutical companies to make changes to individual emails. If we consider introducing this in future, we would do so in line with regulatory guidance.
The service has been designed in consultation with Code experts. The alerts are treated the same across all products and companies, and the end user has to sign up to them themselves. The alerts are also automated and sent within a standardised template from emc, rather than from the pharmaceutical company. We have also restricted alerts to those who identify themselves as professional or academic users.
The service launched on Friday 24 July, and we have seen strong initial interest, with more than 200 sign-ups in the first 10 days. We will continue to monitor the popularity of the service as we raise awareness of it in the coming weeks.
Take a screenshot of any error message, note the date, time, and the SmPC or product involved, then contact the Datapharm Service Desk with this information.