The Prescrire Awards for 2016

The Prescrire Packaging Awards for 2016

Abstract

Prescrire examined the packaging quality of about 250 drugs in 2016. As in previous years, our analyses identified numerous flaws liable to cause medication errors, some of which could have serious consequences, such as labelling geared more towards marketing the product than ensuring medication safety, inaccurate or even dangerous dosing devices, toxic drugs marketed in bottles without a child-proof cap, and patient leaflets that fail to clearly and fully inform patients about adverse effects.
One labelling flaw that has persisted for decades is the insufficient prominence given to the drug’s real name, its international nonproprietary name (INN). As a result, patients have difficulty identifying the composition of their medication, with all the risks this entails.
Umbrella brands constitute a particularly shocking example of this problem, creating a risk of confusion between drugs with different compositions marketed under the same brand name.