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Articles
Confusing drug names
Abstract
The majority of drugs have at least two names (the proprietary or brand name, and the non-proprietary or generic name) but some have many more when different brand names are adopted by different manufacturers. Often the names do not indicate the nature of the drug or drug mixture, and, by looking or sounding similar or by incorporating numbers or letters, may lead to confusion.1 Errors in prescribing, dispensing and administration inevitably follow.