english.prescrire.org > Spotlight > Archives : 2007 > To avoid medication errors, use the INN - a drug's real name

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To avoid medication errors,
use the INN - a drug's real name

Brand names for drugs are not compulsory: they are nothing but marketing. Using the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) in patient care helps reduce the risk of medication error.

Drugs' brand names are a risk factor for medication errors: drugs with similar names can be mixed up, and patients can overdose by taking drugs with different names but containing the same substances.

A European Commission proposal to give firms greater freedom to choose commercial names -- thus exacerbating the confusion -- is cause for concern.

The International Nonproprietary Name (INN) is the one and only common language in which drugs have the same name worldwide. For health professionals, this is much safer than using brand names, since scientific reference information on drugs refers to their INN. The INN also enables caregivers and patients to understand each other, and helps avoid errors, overdoses and drug interactions.

Many patients pay close attention to their medication, even when the names are complicated. They understand what "a drug’s real name" means: an active substance and not a brand image.

Many patients have already learned to say ibuprofen, for example, rather than one of the extremely numerous commercial names for this drug. There is no reason to stop there.

©Prescrire December 2007

Source: "Confusion entre noms commerciaux : entretenue par les agences du médicament" Rev Prescrire 2007 ; 27 (290) : 941.

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