United States Adopted Names Council Research Articles

Metronidazole and Metformin: Prone to Mix-ups: Soy Allergy?: Save Lives: Improve the Pneumococcal Vaccine Administration Rate: Inefficient Screening Process: Omitted Vaccine Administration: Flammability of Ethyl Chloride: Current Nonproprietary Drug Names under Consideration by United States Adopted Names Council

These medication errors have occurred in health care facilities at least once. They will happen again—perhaps where you work. Through education and alertness of personnel and procedural safeguards, they can be avoided. You should consider publishing accounts of errors in your newsletters and/or presenting them in your inservice training programs. Your assistance is required to continue this feature. The reports described here were received through the USP Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP), which is presented in cooperation with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. If you have encountered medication errors and would like to report them, you may call USP toll-free, 24 hours a day, at 800-233-7767 (800-23-ERROR). Any reports published by ISMP will be anonymous. Comments are also invited; the writers’ names will be published if desired. ISMP may be contacted at the address shown below. Errors, close calls, or hazardous conditions may be reported through the ISMP ( www.ismp.org ) or USP ( www.usp.org ) web sites or communicated directly to ISMP by calling 1-800-FAIL SAFE or via e-mail at ismpinfo@ismp.org . ISMP guarantees the confidentiality and security of the information received and respects reporters’ wishes as to the level of detail included in publications. In 2004, ISMP is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its incorporation as a nonprofit organization. The Institute represents more than 20 years of experience in helping health care practitioners keep patients safe and continues to lead efforts to improve the medication use process.

Misprogram a PCA Pump? It's Easier than you Think: Ratio Expression for Epinephrine Injection Again Leads to Error: Tetanus Toxoid Vaccines Used for PPD: Current Nonproprietary Drug Names under Consideration by United States Adopted Names Council

These medication errors have occurred in health care facilities at least once. They will happen again—perhaps where you work. Through education and alertness of personnel and procedural safeguards, they can be avoided. You should consider publishing accounts of errors in your newsletters and/or presenting them in your inservice training programs. Your assistance is required to continue this feature. The reports described here were received through the USP Medication Errors Reporting Program, which is presented in cooperation with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. If you have encountered medication errors and would like to report them, you may call USP toll-free, 24 hours a day, at 800-233-7767 (800-23-ERROR). Any reports published by ISMP will be anonymous. Comments are also invited; the writers’ names will be published if desired. ISMP may be contacted at the address shown below. The reports described in this column were received through the USP-ISMP Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP). Errors, close calls, or hazardous conditions may be reported through the ISMP ( www.ismp.org ) or USP ( www.usp.org ) web sites or communicated directly to ISMP by calling 1-800-FAIL SAFE or via e-mail at ismpinfo@ismp.org . ISMP guarantees the confidentiality and security of the information received and respects reporters’ wishes as to the level of detail included in publications. In 2004, ISMP is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its incorporation as a nonprofit organization. The Institute represents more than 20 years of experience in helping health care practitioners keep patients safe and continues to lead efforts to improve the medication use process.

Risk of Morphine-Hydromorphone Mix-ups; Actonel Dispensed Instead of Actos; Mucomyst and Mucinex Confused; Current Nonproprietary Drug Names under Consideration by United States Adopted Names Council

These medication errors have occurred in health care facilities at least once. They will happen again—perhaps where you work. Through education and alertness of personnel and procedural safeguards, they can be avoided. You should consider publishing accounts of errors in your newsletters and/or presenting them in your inservice training programs. Your assistance is required to continue this feature. The reports described here were received through the USP Medication Errors Reporting Program, which is presented in cooperation with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. If you have encountered medication errors and would like to report them, you may call USP toll-free, 24 hours a day, at 800-233-7767 (800-23-ERROR). Any reports published by ISMP will be anonymous. Comments are also invited; the writers’ names will be published if desired. ISMP may be contacted at the address shown below. The reports described in this column were received through the USP-ISMP Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP). Errors, close calls, or hazardous conditions may be reported through the ISMP ( www.ismp.org ) or USP ( www.usp.org ) web sites or communicated directly to ISMP by calling 1-800-FAIL SAFE or via e-mail at ismpinfo@ismp.org . ISMP guarantees the confidentiality and security of the information received and respects reporters’ wishes as to the level of detail included in publications. In 2004, ISMP is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its incorporation as a nonprofit organization. The Institute represents more than 20 years of experience in helping health care practitioners keep patients safe and continues to lead efforts to improve the medication use process.

The Development and Adoption of Nonproprietary, Established, and Proprietary Names for Pharmaceuticals

Marty types of names are used to describe a pharmaceutical substance and product. Each of these names has a specific meaning and is developed by detailed methods. The general health practitioner is unaware of the effort involved with generating nonproprietary, established, and proprietary names for pharmaceuticals. The methods of the International Nonproprietary Name program of the World Health Organisation, the United States Adopted Names Council, the United States Pharmacopeia, various industry naming programs, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the Food and Drug Administration are outlined in the following sections.

Editorial: New names for old drugs.

The Drug Amendments of 1962 directed that each drug should have only one established nonproprietary name. The Amendments further authorized the organizations concerned to select drug names that combine, to the degree possible, usefulness and simplicity. This included existing names, as well as new names. The United States Adopted Names Council, the United States Pharmacopeia, and the National Formulary have tried to be responsive to the directives of the law. Accordingly, since 1962 the official compendia have selected newer designations to replace some older, less desirable names. When the new editions of these compendia become official on July 1, 1975, the following revisions of older nonproprietary names will go into effect: These changes also apply to the simple derivatives of the parent substance. In accordance with the above,The Journalwill henceforth use the new official designations for these drugs.

The USAN Nomenclature System

THE United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council, sponsored by the American Medical Association, the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, Inc., and the American Pharmaceutical Association, was organized in 1964 to represent the health professions in the selection of appropriate nonproprietary names for drugs.^1,2 The USAN Council was born from a desire of the health professions for more informative, albeit simpler, nonproprietary drug nomenclature. Nonproprietary names had been in existence for numerous years, but it was not until the formation of the USAN Council that this drug nomenclature became truly systematized in the United States. Over the years, the USAN Council has benefited from the experience of its antecedent nomenclature committees and individual sponsors, as well as from the nonproprietary nomenclature committees of the World Health Organization and of other countries. The principles and procedures adopted by the council have been previously reported.^3-5An updated version of the principles appeared

Medical News

<h3>A review of preliminary results of adenine arabinoside studies</h3> The Food and Drug Administration will soon be asked to consider adenine arabinoside for prescription use as an ophthalmic agent. The compound was synthesized in 1960 as a potential anti-cancer agent. It is an anti-metabolite purine nucleoside derived from<i>Streptomyces antibioticus</i>, and is chemically known as 9-B-D-arabinofuranosyladenine. The United States Adopted Names Council's generic name for the compound is vidarabine, but most often it is referred to as ara-A. There are two primary areas of clinical study with ara-A. One, sponsored by Parke, Davis &amp; Co (which has the investigational new drug permit), centers on ocular herpesvirus infections—herpes keratitis and herpes uveitis. The other, supported by the National Institutes of Health (particularly the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), involves systemic infections. On the basis of the clinical ara-A studies in ocular herpes, Parke-Davis now is preparing the new