Creation of a unified global system of medicines names: an evidence analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11635653Keywords:
medicinal product, naming, trade name, international nonproprietary names, medication error, drug information.Abstract
Introduction. The range of medicines with various trade names is extremely large and constantly growing. This is the reason for inadequate selection of medicines and medical errors. The aim: To study the problems of the modern state of medicines naming and to determine the ways of its solution. Materials and methods. General scientific methods of cognition are used: analysis and synthesis, abstraction, deduction, modeling, generalization. The materials were publications from the Google Scholar and PubMed electronic search systems, the Crossref bibliographic database for the period 1984-2024. The following keywords were chosen: medicine and drug, naming, international nonproprietary names, trade name, original drug, generic, brand, branded generic, chemical name, medication error, drug information. Results. It was found that the huge number of trade names of medicinal products causes informational problems with possible clinical consequences. Today, there is no international regulatory system that would guarantee that the trade names of medicines from different manufacturers from different countries differed enough to avoid the risk of incorrect prescriptions due to confusion of their names. It is obvious that the breadth of the modern pharmaceutical market and the huge number of trade names of medicines on it are the reasons for their inadequate selection and medical errors. Conclusions. Based on the results of the study of the problems of the modern system of drug names, the possibility of errors in the use of drugs due to the similarity of their trade names, it is proposed to create, under the auspices of the WHO, a single global system of trade names of drugs based on the globally accepted system of international non-proprietary names, which consists of that the trade name must contain the international non-proprietary name and the name of the manufacturer. The unified global system of trade names of medicines will allow the doctor, pharmacist and patient to choose a generic medicine with a high-quality composition of the active pharmaceutical ingredient and auxiliary substances.
Key words: medicinal product, naming, trade name, international nonproprietary names, medication error, drug information.
References
Alduraywish SA, Altamimi LA, Aldhuwayhi RA, AlZamil LR, Alzeghayer LY, Alsaleh FS. et al. Sources of Health Information and Their Impacts on Medical Knowledge Perception Among the Saudi Arabian Population: Cross-Sectional Study. J Med Internet Res, 2020; 22(3): e14414. DOI: 10.2196/14414
Anandabaskar N. Drug Information. In: Raj G, Raveendran R. (eds) Introduction to Basics of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Springer, Singapore, 2019. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-32-9779-1_14
Aronson JK. Medication errors resulting from the confusion of drug names. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2004; 3(3):167-72. Doi: 10.1517/eods.3.3.167.31069.
Balagura MV. Legal protection of the name of the medicinal product in Ukraine. Journal of the Kyiv University of Law. 2017;4: 301-304.
Berberich FR. Cephalosporin trade names. Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 2003; 22(4): 388-389. Doi: 10.1097/01.inf.0000060827.62204.2b
Berman A. Reducing medication errors through naming, labeling, and packaging. J Med Syst. 2004; 28(1): 9-29. Doi: 10.1023/b:joms.0000021518.606 70.10.
Bulik BS. Physicians use Doctor Google daily, but they still rely on traditional info sources, too: study. Fierce Pharma, 2016. https://www-fiercepharma-com.translate.goog/marketing/doctor-google-physicians-report-daily-online-searches-for-info-still-also-rely
Cumming R, Gregory O. Pharmaceutical trade marks: the name and numbers game. Appleyard Lees, 2018. https://www.appleyardlees.com/pharma ceutical-trade-marks-the-name-and-numbers-game-3/
Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the council of 6 November 2001 on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use (OJ L 311, 28.11.2001, p. 67) https://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUri Serv.do?uri=CONSLEG:2001L0083:20121116:EN:PDF.(accessed 15 April.2024).
Evers M, Ghatak A, Holt E, Ostojic I, Pradel C, Suresh B. et al. A vision for Medical Affairs in 2025. Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products Practice. 2019.
Halloran EC. Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It. Fam Med. 2023; 55(3): 207-208.
DOI: 10.22454/FamMed.2023.648056
Hampton T. Similar drug names: a risky prescription. JAMA. 2004; 291: 155-160.
Doi: 10.1001/jama.291.16.1948.
Hemminki E, Enlund H, Hellevuo K, Laurila R, Turakka H. Trade names and generic names. Problems for prescribing physicians. Scand J Prim Health Care. 1984; 2: 84–87. Doi: 10.3109/02813438409017709
Hoffman JM, Proulx SM. Medication errors caused by confusion of drug names. Drug Saf. 2002; 26: 445-452. Doi: 10.2165/00002018-200326070-00001.
Holquist C. Medication errors: an FDA perspective. European Union Regulatory Workshop on Medication Errors. 2013. http://www.ema.europa. eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/resentation/2013/03/WC500139886.pdf
Jha AK, Prasopa-Plaizier N, Larizgoitia I, Bates DW. Research Priority Setting Working Group of the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety. Patient safety research: an overview of the global evidence. Qual Saf Health Care. 2010;19(1):42–47. Doi: 10.1136/qshc.2008.029165.
Karet GB. How Do Drugs Get Named? AMA J Ethics. 2019; 21(8): 686-696. DOI 10.1001/amajethics.2019.686.
Kenagy JW, Stein GC. Naming, labeling, and packaging of pharmaceuticals. Am. J. Health Syst. Pharm. 2001; 58: 2033-2041. Doi: 10.1093/ajhp/58.21.2033.
Kwo CE, Kamat P, Steinman AМ. Physician use of brand versus generic drug names in 1993-1994 and 2003-2004. Ann Pharmacother. 2009; 43(3): 459-468. Doi: 10.1345/aph.1L502.
Lagerlund O, Strese S, Fladvad M, Lindquist M. WHODrug: A Global, Validated and Updated Dictionary for Medicinal Information. Ther Innov Regul Sci. 2020;54:1116–1122. Doi: 10.1007/s43441-020-00130-6
LeBelle MJ. Drug naines and nmedication errors, Who is responsible? Can Med Assoc J. 1993;149(7):941 – 943. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pmc/articles /PMC1485595 /?page=1
Marr B. How Much Data Do We Create Every Day? The Mind-Blowing Stats Everyone Should Read. Forbes.com.Forbes. 2018. https://www.forbes. com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/?sh=446f6bb560ba
Merchant L, Lutter R, Chang S. Identical or similar brand names used in different countries for medications with different active ingredients: a descriptive analysis. BMJ Qual Saf. 2020; 29(12): 988-991. Doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2019-010316.
Ostini R, Roughead EE, Kirkpatrick CM, Monteith GR, Tett SE. Quality Use of Medicines – medication safety issues in naming; look-alike, sound-alike medicine names. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice 2012; 20(6): 349–357. DOI: 10.1111/j.2042-7174.2012.00210.x
Rational use of medicines: key points. WHO information. Rational pharmacotherapy. 2007;1(2): 5-6.
Schulmeister L. Look-alike, sound-alike oncology medications. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2006;10(1):35-41. Doi: 10.1188/06.CJON.35-41.
Schwab M, Oetzel C, Morike K, Jagle C, Gleiter CH, Eichelbaum M. Using trade names: a risk factor for accidental drug overdose. Arch Intern Med. 2002; 162(9):1065-1066. Doi:10.1001/archinte.162.9.1065.
Shtrigol SY, Tovchyga OV. Original and generic drugs. Rational pharmacotherapy. 2012; 4(25): 15-18.
Straka RJ, Keohane DJ, Liu LZ. Potential Clinical and Economic Impact of Switching Branded Medications to Generics. Am J Ther. 2017;24(3): e278-e289. Doi: 10.1097/MJT.00000000 00000282.
Tackling medication errors: European Medicines Agency workshop calls for coordinated EU approach. Press release. 2013. http://www.ema.europa.eu /ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/news_and_events/news/2013/03/news_detail_001729.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac058004d5c1 (accessed: 15 April.2024).
Zielińska M, Hermanowski T. Sources of Information on Medicinal Products Among Physicians – A Survey Conducted Among Primary Care Physicians in Poland. Front. Pharmacol. 2022; 12:801845. Doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.801845
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Annals of Mechnikov's Institute
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
