To make it possible to identify drugs in the same way throughout the world, an INN is devised for each drug, under the aegis of the WHO, before the pharmaceutical company registers a brand name for it.
The international harmonisation undertaken under the aegis of the World Health Organization (WHO) has made it possible to switch from using national nonproprietary names to international nonproprietary names (INNs). The INN system is the standard drug nomenclature in most countries, including countries belonging to the European Union.
The principles of INN nomenclature make drugs' names meaningful and therefore easier to understand and remember; the keys to INN nomenclature are its informative common stems.
Several anomalies in INN nomenclature show that the international harmonisation of nonproprietary drug names has not been fully achieved.
For more information:
World Health Organization INN Programme
Details available online:
> www.who.int/medicines/services/inn/en/
How INNs are created
Prescrire Int 2015; 24 (161): 162-165.
The international nonproprietary names (INNs) devised for each drug, under the aegis of the World Health Organization (WHO), enable pharmaceutical substances to be identified in the same way around the world. INNs often make drugs' names meaningful and therefore easier to understand and remember, mainly through the use of informative common stems.
The task of devising an INN is therefore crucial in enabling health professionals and patients to understand what the drug does and to use it safely. How are INNs devised? What aims, procedures, external influences, limitations and difficulties are at play?
This "guided tour" of INN creation deals with the public consultations organised by the WHO on proposed INNs, in which Prescrire is an active participant.
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Obstacles to the universal application of INNs
Prescrire Int 2014; 23 (153): 248-251.
Anomalies in the international nonproprietary name (INN) nomenclature show that the international harmonisation of nonproprietary drug names has not been achieved. When pharmaceutical companies request a new INN, they try to obtain an INN that serves their interests, and then use it for promotional or anticompetitive purposes. Drug regulatory agencies are not fulfilling their duty to protect existing INNs, particularly with regard to biosimilars (copies of biotechnologyderived drugs), giving rise in particular to anomalous names. The independence of the World Health Organization INN programme must be safeguarded to ensure that the universal terminology it is responsible for developing is applied worldwide.
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Exceptions to and deviations from the INN common stem system
Prescrire Int 2013; 22 (138): 138-139.
For various reasons, mainly related to the history of the drug and of drug nomenclature, some INNs lack a common stem. As INN nomenclature has evolved, some stems have been abandoned or their definition has been modified. Some common stems are difficult to interpret or fail to achieve their objective of designating coherent therapeutic groups. This problem tends to arise particularly when: several stems are used for the same therapeutic use; stems used to designate a particular structure or origin are shared by drugs with different properties; or several stems are used to represent drugs with the same properties but different structures.
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©Prescrire June 2015
