Prescription Drug Names in U.S., Abroad Lead to U.S. Consumers’ Confusion When Buying Medications in Other Countries
The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined a safety alert issued by the not-for-profit Institute for Safe Medication Practices identifying several drugs in the U.S. that have the same name as drugs with different ingredients sold by other manufacturers on the global market. Problems can arise when travelers refilling prescriptions abroad or U.S. residents importing less-expensive medications get the wrong drug, possibly causing unexpected drug interactions or delayed treatment. No regulatory body exists to track brand names globally, but the World Health Organization works to match generic drug names with standardized International Nonproprietary Names. FDA has the authority to approve drug names only in the U.S. but acknowledges that the conflicts can exist abroad. The international drug name problem came to light recently after a Michigan man was hospitalized following a trip to the former country of Yugoslavia during which his prescription for hypertension drug Dilacor XR was mistakenly refilled with the Serbian version of Dilacor, which is a heart-failure drug. Because of the large number of drugs worldwide, the problem of identical or similar brand names is likely to grow, according to the Journal. The U.S. market includes 10,800 brand-name and generic drugs, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Some experts believe hundreds of thousands of drugs exist worldwide. In order to address the drug name issue, companies, hospitals and doctors can use consulting references books such as "Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference" or electronic databases such as Micromedex, but those references might not be exhaustive or up to date, according to the Journal (Chase, Wall Street Journal, 8/16).
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