Prescrire Submit Comment Guideline CPMP 398 98 Rev 5

European Medicines Agency SUBMISSION OF COMMENTS ON GUIDELINE ON THE ACCEPTABILITY OF NAMES FOR HUMAN MEDICINAL PRODUCTS PROCESSED THROUGH THE CENTRALISED PROCEDURE CPMP/328/98, Revision 5 - 5 February 2007 COMMENTS FROM PRESCRIRE GENERAL COMMENTS Prescrire is an independent drug bulletin supporting a healthcare practitionners continuing education programme, owned by an independent organisation aimed to achieve healthcare improvement in the interests of patients first, formally called “Association Mieux Prescrire”. The magnitude of the use of trademark names of medicinal products in European healthcare is mainly the consequence of the marketing pressure from the pharmaceutical companies, as private owners of these trademarks. Everyday medication errors are related to trademark names of medicinal products in Europe. As a consequence, European citizens are threatened by adverse drug effects, sometimes serious, which is an inacceptable situation and a public healthcare concern. The risks related to trademark names of medicinal products are not acceptable because they are preventable for several reasons: the use of trademark names of medicinal products is not mandatory; the international nonproprietary names (INN) should be systematically used as usual names and made proheminent at all stages of the medication use system, on the package leaflets, and both on the inner and on the outer packages of medicine products (a concern ...