When you type a medication name in PillBox, the app searches a built-in copy of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) — Australia's list of government-subsidised medicines — and offers matching suggestions. Picking one fills in the details for you: the exact brand, form, strength, and active ingredients.
Those details are then refined using the Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) — the national medicines standard, part of SNOMED CT‑AU — which gives each active ingredient a precise, coded strength. So a picked medicine is identified by the PBS and described accurately by the AMT. To learn where both come from, see Where the medicine data comes from.
Everything happens on your phone. Both datasets ship inside the app, so searching works offline and nothing you type ever leaves your device.
Searching as you type
On the Add Medication screen, start typing in the name field. After a couple of letters, suggestions appear below it. A suggestion can match on:
- the medicine name (e.g. amoxicillin),
- a brand name (e.g. Panadeine Forte), or
- an active ingredient inside a combination product (e.g. typing codeine surfaces the paracetamol + codeine products that contain it).
Tap the suggestion that matches what's on your packet or prescription label.
What you can search for today. Search covers PBS-subsidised medicines. The AMT currently improves the accuracy of those medicines' details rather than adding new ones — so over-the-counter products, supplements, and non-subsidised medicines usually aren't suggested yet. When one isn't found, just type it in yourself (see What the medicine data can — and can't — tell you).
Choosing the exact strength and brand
If the medicine comes in more than one strength or brand, PillBox shows a Choose strength list so you can pin down the exact product you take.
- Each line shows the strength and the brand — for example, 500 mg + 30 mg — Panadeine Forte for a combination product (one number per active ingredient).
- Medicines with many options are grouped by brand first: pick the brand, then the strength.
- If there's only one PBS product for your medicine, PillBox selects it automatically and skips this step.
Match the line against your packet. If you're not sure which strength you take, check the label or ask your pharmacist.
What gets filled in
After you pick a product, PillBox fills in the medication for you:
- Name — the medicine (drug) name
- Brand — in its own field, e.g. Lipitor or Panadeine Forte
- Form — tablet, capsule, liquid, and so on
- Active ingredients — each ingredient with its per-unit strength, taken from the AMT's coded value where available
- Strength — mirrored onto the dose card, ready to adjust the quantity you take
A small Includes PBS data badge appears under the name to show this medication is linked to an official listing.
You can still edit anything afterwards — the link fills fields in, it doesn't lock them. If you change a filled-in field, PillBox notes that in the panel so the record stays honest (see below).
The "Data from the PBS & AMT" panel
Scroll down in the medication editor to see everything PillBox knows about the linked product, grouped into simple cards:
- Identity — the drug name and strength, the brand, and the form and route (e.g. oral)
- Active ingredients — each ingredient and its strength per tablet/capsule, plus a Shared with column showing any of your other medications that contain the same ingredient
- Therapeutic class — the medicine's classification, shown as a plain-language breadcrumb
- PBS record — the PBS item code, pack size and standard repeats, and (from the AMT) the medicine's AMT concept and ARTG identifiers
- Also sold as — other brands of the same medicine in the same strength
- Cost — whether your brand carries a brand premium (costs more than the cheapest equivalent brand). A card highlights it when there's a saving to discuss with your pharmacist; a note confirms when your brand is already at the standard price. General co-payment figures are shown for context.
- More information — a link to the official Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) leaflet (opens healthdirect.gov.au), and, when available, a link to the medicine's entry on the TGA's ARTG (provided via the AMT). PillBox links out to these — it never browses the web inside the app.
- Attribution — the source credit and the full PBS and AMT/SNOMED copyright notices (see Where the medicine data comes from)
"Shares active ingredients"
If a medicine you've linked contains an active ingredient that also appears in another of your medications, PillBox shows a Shares active ingredients note near the top of the editor, and marks the matching rows in the ingredients table with the other medication's colour and icon. Tap either to see exactly which medications overlap.
This is powered by the AMT's substance identity, so it recognises the same ingredient even when two products name it slightly differently (for example, different salt forms of codeine). It's informational only — a prompt to check with your pharmacist or prescriber, never a safety verdict. See What the medicine data can — and can't — tell you.
Changing or removing the link
At the bottom of the medication editor:
- Change Brand or Strength — swap to a different strength or brand of the same medicine. Your schedule, colours, and history stay put; the product details update.
- Clear PBS data — unlink the medication and keep it as a fully manual entry. Nothing else about the medication changes.
The Change Brand or Strength button only appears when there is genuinely another product to switch to.
When your medicine isn't found
Not every medicine is searchable — see What the medicine data can — and can't — tell you. If nothing matches, just keep typing the name and fill in the details yourself. A manual medication works exactly the same everywhere in PillBox — reminders, history, widgets, and all. The only difference is that the "Data from the PBS & AMT" panel doesn't appear.