ABSTRACT
Three different types of name may be used to describe a medicinal drug, namely: the full chemical name, the approved name or a proprietary name. There are advantages and disadvantages to the prescribing of drugs by their generic names. This chapter provides a balanced view regarding these advantages and disadvantages. While generic versions of parenteral preparations of many drugs are available, most of the controversy about generic prescribing it focuses on oral formulations. The use of generics, or/and generic prescribing, has been advocated for years in many Western countries largely for economic reasons. Where the prescriber uses the generic name the pharmacist may dispense the cheapest acceptable formulation available. The equivalence of pharmaceutical products can be established at several different levels: chemical equivalence, pharmaceutical equivalence, bioequivalence and therapeutic equivalence. The British National Formulary has adopted the term 'modified release' (m/r) to cover these products; some were described by terms such as 'controlled release' or 'sustained release' (SR).
