International Comparison of Generic Drugs Product Naming and Prescribing Method Registration Systems: United States of America, Japan, France, United Kingdom and South Korea

Abstract

To prevent errors in drug use, countries have defined certain rules to avoid confusion with other medicines and have prohibited the insertion of phrases that may seem exaggerated in comparison to the actual effects of the drugs. As more product names are licensed, there is an increasing chance that a product name may be similar to that of others. To prevent this, some countries are naming generic drugs based on the name of the ingredient, pharmaceutical company, dosage form, and dose in accordance with certain rules. Each country also makes decisions consistent with the relevant regulations when naming ingredients, most of which are determined using International Nonproprietary Names (INN). Currently, some countries are introducing an INN approval system that names generic drugs in the form of ‘INN’+‘dose’ +‘pharmaceutical company name’+‘dosage form’ or implementing an INN prescription system, in which doctors write INN without designating the brand name of pharmaceutical companies when issuing prescriptions. We surveyed product naming of generic drugs and the prescribing method registration systems in the United States of America, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. The common reason each country introduced an INN system is to secure medical insurance finances by reducing drug costs through the active use of generic drugs. In addition, naming generic drugs using INN should reduce accidents caused by medication errors owing to similar pronunciations between product names and ingredient names or between different product names.