Study of deviant use of international non-proprietary name of medicines in India

Introduction: International Nonproprietary Names (INNs) are internationally documented names for medicines recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and provide a standardized system of nomenclature. Objective: To analyse the current pattern of use of INNs by different pharmaceuticals companies in India. Methodology: The relevant material was systemically collated and analysed after collecting material from websites of WHO, pharmaceutical companies, MIMS and CIMS. We then analysed what is the severity of misuse of INNs in India and categorize the gaps and loopholes at the different level. Results: It has been found that for implementation of INN, most important problem lies in the policy regime along with and deficient coordination in between drug authorities in India. Both big and small pharmaceutical companies were involved in the misuse (10-40%) of INNs. Number of INN stems have been exploited by different companies. Most commonly used INN were by “-grel”, followed by “-pril “-pride” and “gli-”. A great number of cases of misuse of INNs in our country involve drugs for cardiac, renal diseases, and diabetes. Although drug authority has issued INN protection letter by WHO to few pharmaceutical companies but in spite of that number of brand names are still derived from INN. Conclusion: Many lacunae exist in the INN implementation in India. It is essential to develop improved coordination, specific mandate and suitable policy to safeguard INNs in India.