Reactions 846 - 7 Apr 2001

■ An upcoming guidance on drug name confusionfrom the US FDA will address medication errorsrelated to packaging and labelling, reports the PinkSheet. The guidance document will describeprocedures to test new proprietary drug names forpossible confusion with current names, and advise onhow to minimise medication errors due to problemswith packaging and labelling. The report notes that125 new name sets were added to the USPharmacopeia’s list of confusing drug names on 26March. Moreover, it says that 15% of reports made tothe US Pharmacopeia’s Medication Errors ReportingProgram are due to verbally or visually similar drugnames.FDA drug name guidance will address labeling and packaging-related errors.FDC Reports - Pink Sheet - Prescription Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology63: 32, 2 Apr 2001 800852731

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Reactions 7 Apr 2001 No. 8460114-9954/10/0846-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved