To the Editor: Prescribing and dispensing generic medicines is an option to reduce costs in the community and is also common practice in public hospitals. In addition to the issues discussed by McLachlan,1 we have noted a concerning trend in the “branding” of many new generic medicines that has the potential to add to the confusion for patients, prescribers and pharmacists.
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- 1 Alfred Health, Melbourne, VIC.
- 2 Monash University, Melbourne, VIC.
Correspondence: l.graudins@alfred.org.au
- 1. McLachlan AJ. Generic medicines literacy — minimising the potential for patient confusion [editorial]. Med J Aust 2010; 192: 368-369. <MJA full text>
- 2. Reed RC, Meinhold J, Dutta S, et al. What do the suffixes — XR, ER, Chrono, Chronosphere — really mean as it pertains to modified-release antiepileptic drugs? J Clin Pharm Ther 2010; 35: 373-383.
- 3. Therapeutic Goods Administration. TGA approved terminology for medicines. July 1999 (amended 2001). Canberra: TGA, 1999. http://www.tga.gov.au/docs/html/aan.htm (accessed Jul 2010).
- 4. Institute for Safe Medication Practices. ISMP’s list of products with drug name suffixes. Philadelphia: ISMP, 2010. http://www.ismp.org/Tools/drugnamesuffixes.pdf (accessed Jul 2010).
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