Theresa Brown points out that “every drug with two names — and that means practically every drug in use — is a medication error waiting to happen”:
[W]e have recently seen a proliferation of look-alike, sound-alike meds. For example: Zantac is used to treat heartburn, while Xanax is an anti-anxiety medication. A list of these sound-alikes fills a full eight pages on the Institute of Safe Medication Practices website. Data on medication errors is not collected systematically in the United States, so it is impossible to say accurately how many errors result from such confusion. Whatever the number, and the attendant misery the most serious mistakes generate, it seems undeniable that the potential for error is increased by the dual naming of all drugs.
Her suggestion:
All drugs now being sold could use either their brand name or the generic name. That name, and the manufacture of that medication, would be patent-protected for 20 years. Thereafter, any other producer of that drug would append it with a “-G,” indicating that it is a generic formulation. Acetaminophen sold as a generic would become Acetaminophen-G, and Plavix, a brand name blood thinner, would be sold as Plavix-G in its generic form. Combination drugs like the brand name inhaler Duoneb might have to use generic names (albuterol and ipratropium) to avoid confusion.
The Dish 