A drug monitoring study was carried out co-operatively by industry, a university department of clinical pharmacology and a randomly selected sample of general practitioners throughout Italy to collect case history and clinical data on over 10,000 patients with anaemia treated for 2 to 4 months with a preparation containing ferritin plus vitamin B12 co-enzyme and folinic acid. Analysis of the data generated, whilst confirming the effectiveness and tolerability of the study medication, highlighted the usefulness of the research methodology for describing the pattern of use of a drug widely prescribed in general medicine.