OpenEvidence in Switzerland: is it available, and what do Swiss doctors use instead? (2026)

DR. INFO and OpenEvidence, side by side

How DR. INFO compares with OpenEvidence

Frequently asked questions

Is OpenEvidence available in Switzerland in 2026?

Not formally excluded, but not confirmed in practice. OpenEvidence ended access from the EU and the UK on 28 April 2026, and since September 2026 its terms of use name the EU, the UK and the EEA as excluded regions; Switzerland is not on that list ^[3]. Registration, however, asks for a US NPI or another applicable professional licence number, and OpenEvidence has not confirmed that a Swiss GLN is accepted. Anyone who tries should use only their own, accurate details.

Does OpenEvidence's Europe block also apply to Switzerland?

Not formally. The block of 28 April 2026 covered the EU and the UK, and the EEA with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein was added later. Switzerland belongs to none of these groups and is not named in the exclusion list. Whether the service actually answers from Swiss networks, and whether registration succeeds without a US licence number, is a different question, and the company has given no assurance on it.

Can a doctor in Switzerland register with OpenEvidence?

OpenEvidence asks at registration for an NPI, the US provider identifier, or another applicable professional licence number, and reserves the right to verify it; there is no assurance that Swiss credentials are accepted ^[3]. In any case, use only your own details. DR. INFO requires no US number and is open directly to doctors and medical students in Switzerland.

Is OpenEvidence available in German, French or Italian?

No. OpenEvidence answers only in English, has no interface in a Swiss national language and relies on US sources. DR. INFO answers in the language you ask in, so in German, French or Italian, and the product itself is available in German.

Why did OpenEvidence leave Europe?

OpenEvidence withdrew from the EU and the UK together, citing uncertainty about European AI regulation, including the EU AI Act. Commentary in the medical press has treated the move as a sign of the regulatory divide between US health AI and European rules ^[8]. Switzerland is still drafting its own AI regulation and was not directly affected by the decision.

What do Swiss doctors use instead of OpenEvidence?

Two kinds of tool. The Swiss references: compendium.ch with the product information approved by Swissmedic ^[5][9] and the guidelines of the specialist societies, often the German-language S3 guidelines with Swiss participation ^[10], plus UpToDate where the hospital holds a licence. And DR. INFO, a European clinical AI that answers a clinical question with citations you can open, hosts data in the EU, and includes a scribe and discharge letter drafting.

Is DR. INFO the best OpenEvidence alternative for Switzerland?

For a clinician who wants what OpenEvidence did, or would have done, a cited written answer to a clinical question, DR. INFO is the closest fit that can be used from Switzerland without a US licence number: it retrieves guidelines and literature for each question, cites every statement, hosts data in the EU, answers in the national languages and scored 0.72 against OpenEvidence's 0.49 on HealthBench Hard.

How does DR. INFO cite its answers?

Each answer is written from documents retrieved for that question, and each statement carries a citation that opens the source: a guideline, a peer reviewed paper, or an FDA or EMA drug document. That makes the answer checkable in the way a colleague's summary is not. In a prospective pilot study published in Cureus in 2026, physicians using DR. INFO at the point of care rated that traceability as part of its value ^[11].

Does DR. INFO cover Swiss guidelines?

Switzerland has no central guideline register. Many of the recommendations Swiss hospitals and practices treat by are the German-language S3 guidelines that Swiss societies co-author, and the European guidelines from the ESC, ESMO or KDIGO. DR. INFO retrieves these sources per question; with the country set to Switzerland, national recommendations are preferred. Coverage is broad but not complete for any society; the source document is linked in every answer, and the current version remains authoritative.

May I use DR. INFO under Swiss data protection law?

DR. INFO is hosted in the European Union. The revised Data Protection Act, in force since 1 September 2023, allows personal data to be disclosed to states with an adequate level of protection without additional safeguards, and the EU states are on the Federal Council's list ^[12]. Whether a tool is used with patient data is still a decision for each practice and hospital, with professional secrecy under article 321 of the Criminal Code in mind. Asking a clinical question without patient identifiers does not transfer health data.

Is DR. INFO authorised as a medical device in Switzerland?

DR. INFO is CE marked under EU MDR 2017/745 ^[13]. Switzerland regulates medical devices in its Medical Devices Ordinance, which follows the EU MDR and is supervised by Swissmedic ^[9]; since 2021, placing a device on the Swiss market carries additional duties such as a Swiss authorised representative. For use in a Swiss hospital, the procurement or quality team clarifies the status directly with the manufacturer, Synduct GmbH in Munich.

Is DR. INFO free for doctors in Switzerland?

There is a free tier for doctors and medical students, with paid plans for heavier use. It works in the browser at app.drinfo.ai and on the iPhone app, from Switzerland without restriction.

Does DR. INFO work in the Romandie and in Ticino?

Yes. DR. INFO answers in the language of the question, so in French and Italian as well, with the same sources. A colleague in Lausanne and a colleague in Lugano work with it in the same way as a doctor in Zurich.

What applies to doctors in Liechtenstein?

Liechtenstein is an EEA member and is therefore covered by the exclusion in OpenEvidence's terms of use; access there has ended as in the EU. DR. INFO can be used from Liechtenstein as from Switzerland.

References

1. 1.Breaking: OpenEvidence app access terminated in the UK and EU. Telehealth and Telecare Aware. 28 April 2026.
2. 2.The US-based medical search engine OpenEvidence is down in Europe: a commentary on regulatory complexities. Intelligence-Based Medicine. 2026.
3. 3.OpenEvidence Outside the US: 2026 Availability and Alternatives. Clinical AI Report. Accessed 16 October 2026.
4. 4.FMH. FMH-Ärztestatistik 2024: 42 602 berufstätige Ärztinnen und Ärzte in der Schweiz. Schweizerische Ärztezeitung, März 2025.
5. 5.HCI Solutions. compendium.ch: Arzneimittelinformation für die Schweiz.
6. 6.Ravichandran S, Kumar S, Corga Da Silva R, Romano M, et al. OpenAI’s HealthBench in Action: Evaluating an LLM-Based Medical Assistant on Realistic Clinical Queries. arXiv:2509.02594. 2026.
7. 7.Arora RK, Wei J, Soskin Hicks R, et al. HealthBench: Evaluating Large Language Models Toward Improved Human Health. OpenAI. 2025.
8. 8.OpenEvidence exits Europe, highlighting divide in health AI rules. Telehealth.org. 2026.
9. 9.Swissmedic. Schweizerisches Heilmittelinstitut: Medizinprodukte.
10. 10.AWMF. Leitlinienregister: aktuelle Leitlinien der wissenschaftlichen medizinischen Fachgesellschaften.
11. 11.Corga Da Silva R, Romano M, Mendes T, et al. DR. INFO at the Point of Care: A Prospective Pilot Study of Physician-Perceived Value of an Agentic Artificial Intelligence Clinical Assistant. Cureus. 2026.
12. 12.Eidgenössischer Datenschutz- und Öffentlichkeitsbeauftragter (EDÖB). Datenschutzgesetz (DSG) und Bekanntgabe von Personendaten ins Ausland.
13. 13.Regulation (EU) 2017/745 of the European Parliament and of the Council on medical devices (EU MDR). Official Journal of the European Union. 2017.