Changes to drug names.Drug names are not always easy to differentiate, especially as funded brand names change, and serious errors can occur. To add to the confusion, the names of some common drugs we take for granted, could be about to change on the shelves of pharmacies, wards and on labels on patients' bottles. Patients may well worry about suddenly finding their "frusemide frusemide see furosemide. furosemide, frusemide a diuretic that acts by blocking reabsorption of sodium and chloride in the ascending loop of Henle. " has turned into "furosemide furosemide /fu·ro·sem·ide/ (fu-ro´se-mid) a loop diuretic used in the treatment of edema and hypertension. fu·ro·se·mide n. A white to yellow crystalline powder used as a diuretic. " and they may wonder whether the "levothyroxine" is the same as the "thyroxine" they had last time. The World Health Organisation agreed many years ago that drugs should all have a recommended international non-proprietary name (rINN). Problems arise when this rINN differs from the British-approved name (BAN) most of us are familiar with. For many years, manufacturers continued to use the BAN or even the US adopted name (USAN USAN United States Adopted Name. USAN abbr. United States Adopted Names (used for nonproprietary names of drugs adopted by a committee of medical professionals and drug manufacturers) USAN ), but seemingly this practice has come to an end. In the United Kingdom, manufacturers have had to change to rINNs with a few exceptions such as adrenaline and noradrenaline noradrenaline /nor·adren·a·line/ (nor?ah-dren´ah-lin) norepinephrine. noradrenaline (nōrˈ· (rINNs epinephrine and norepinephrine norepinephrine (nôr'ĕpīnĕf`rən), a neurotransmitter in the catecholamine family that mediates chemical communication in the sympathetic nervous system, a branch of the autonomic nervous system. respectively) to obey a European directive. Name changes that are particularly likely to cause dispensing errors and real confusion are: * cysteamine (BAN) and its rINN alternative mercaptamine. Mercaptamine is very similar to mercaptopurine mercaptopurine: see metabolite. . * Levothyroxine (previously thyroxine) is very similar to liothyronine. * Methotrimeprazine has started arriving on shelves labelled as levomepromazine. * The oestrogens will no longer be spelt with an "o". * Acyclovir acyclovir /acy·clo·vir/ (a-si´klo-ver) a synthetic purine nucleoside with selective activity against herpes simplex virus; used as the base or the sodium salt in the treatment of genital and mucocutaneous herpesvirus infections. and cyclosporin become aciclovir and cictosporin respectively. So, when a patient asks why the name of their medicine has changed, there may be a reason other than a brand change, a dispensing or prescribing error. The original packaging might be labelled with the rINN, but the pharmacy-generated label affixed to the original pack could use the BAN. If in doubt about a drug name, contact your pharmacist or check in a reference source. Beth Loe, national co-ordinator, District Health Boards New Zealand Safe and Quality Use of Medicines Group |
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