Urgent call to change drug labelling
Medical experts say the prominence given to brand names on medicine labels is confusing particularly to consumers, but also to doctors, and increases the risk of duplicate prescriptions and overdose, in an article in the December issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.
In the article, What's in a name? Brand name confusion and generic medicines, Professor Shane Carney and authors have called for an urgent review of medicine labelling in Australia and New Zealand to ease the problem. They said the active ingredients of medicines (paracetamol for example) should be displayed more prominently and in a larger font than the brand name.
“Brand confusion is a patient safety and a quality use of medicines concern, which will only worsen with time if no action is taken”, the authors wrote.
The risk of medication errors has escalated along with the proliferation of generic medicines and the growing practice of brand substitution by pharmacists, according to the article. The authors said 40% of patients aged over 70 years now receive more than five medications, making them more vulnerable.
They gave the example of antihypertensive medications called ACE inhibitors. They said there are 8 different types of these in Australia and 81 brands have been approved for sale.
Adding to the problem, brand names often have no relationship to the active ingredient or the condition being treated.
The authors said that though current labelling guidelines call for the active ingredient of a drug to be displayed with equal or greater prominence than the brand name, these guidelines are voluntary and industry compliance has been low.
“We call on the responsible authorities, as a matter of urgency, to amend Australian and New Zealand drug labelling laws to ensure the active ingredient or generic name is displayed more prominently and in a larger font than the brand name on all pharmaceutical labels, whether prescribed or over-the-counter”, they wrote.
They say to further distinguish between brand and generic names and aid consumer recognition, the font and colours used for generic names should be unique and comparable for all medicines.
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
The statements or opinions that are expressed in the MJA reflect the views of the authors and do not represent the official policy of the AMA unless that is so stated.
CONTACTS: Professor Shane Carney 0411 120 946