What Is International Nonproprietary Name (INN)?

The International Nonproprietary Name (INN) is an official generic and non-proprietary name given to a pharmaceutical drug or an active ingredient. The INN system has been coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1953. It has named some 9,200 substances so far. These names are commonly used in the package leaflets of medicinal products, pharmacopoeias, literature on medicines and customs tariff item lists. International Nonproprietary Names make communication more precise by providing a unique standard name for each active ingredient, to avoid prescribing errors.Having unambiguous standard names for each drug (standardization of drug nomenclature) is important because a drug may be sold by many different brand names, or a branded medication may contain more than one drug. For example, the branded medications Celexa, Celapram and Citrol all contain the same active ingredient: citalopram; and the branded preparation Lemsip contains two active ingredients: paracetamol and phenylephrine. Each drug's INN is unique but may contain a word stem that is shared with other drugs of the same class, for example the beta blocker drugs propranolol and atenolol share the -olol suffix, and the benzodiazepine drugs lorazepam and diazepam share the -azepam suffix. The WHO issues INNs in English, Latin, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese, and a drug's INNs are often cognate across most or all of the languages, with minor spelling or pronunciation differences, for example: paracetamol (en) paracetamolum (la), paracétamol (fr) and ??????????? (ru). An established INN is known as a recommended INN (rINN), while a name that is still being considered is called a proposed INN (pINN). The World Health Organization has a constitutional mandate to "develop, establish and promote international standards with respect to biological, pharmaceutical and similar products". Name stems Drugs from the same therapeutic or chemical class are usually given names with the same stem. Stems are mostly placed word-finally, but in some cases word-initial stems are used. They are collected in a publication informally known as the Stem Book. Examples are: -anib for angiogenesis inhibitors (e.g. pazopanib) -anserin for serotonin receptor antagonists, especially 5-HT2 antagonists (e.g. ritanserin and mianserin) -arit for antiarthritic agents (e.g. lobenzarit) -ase for enzymes (e.g. alteplase) -azepam for benzodiazepines (e.g. diazepam and oxazepam) -caine for local anaesthetics (e.g. procaine or cocaine) -cain- for class I antiarrhythmics (e.g. procainamide) -coxib for COX-2 inhibitors, a type of anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. celecoxib) -mab for monoclonal antibodies (e.g. infliximab); see Nomenclature of monoclonal antibodies -navir for antiretroviral protease inhibitors (e.g. darunavir) -olol for beta blockers (e.g. atenolol) -pril for ACE inhibitors (e.g. captopril) -sartan for angiotensin II receptor antagonists (e.g. losartan) -tinib for tyrosine kinase inhibitors (e.g. imatinib) -vastatin for HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, a group of cholesterol lowering agents (e.g. simvastatin) -vir for antivirals (e.g. aciclovir or ritonavir) arte- for artemisinin antimalarials (e.g. artemether) cef- for cefalosporins (e.g. cefalexin) io- for iodine-containing radiopharmaceuticals (e.g. iobenguane) -vec for gene therapy vectors (e.g. alipogene tiparvovec) A number of spelling changes are made to British Approved Names and other older nonproprietary names with an eye toward interlingual standardization of pronunciation across major languages. Thus a predictable spelling system, approximating phonemic orthography, is used, as follows: ae or oe is replaced by e (e.g. estradiol vs. oestradiol) ph is replaced by f (e.g. amfetamine vs. amphetamine) th is replaced by t (e.g. metamfetamine vs. methamphetamine) y is replaced by i (e.g. aciclovir vs. acyclovir) h and k are avoided where possible Modified INNs (names for radicals and groups) Many drugs are supplied as salts, with a cation and an anion. The way the INN system handles these is explained by the WHO at its "Guidance on INN" webpage. For example, amfetamine and oxacillin are INNs, whereas various salts of these compounds – e.g., amfetamine sulfate and oxacillin sodium – are modified INNs(INNM). By Aliyev F. References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_nonproprietary_name. World Health Organization, Guidance on INN. "The use of stems in the selection of International Nonproprietary Names (INN) for pharmaceutical substances" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2011. WHO/EMP/QSM/2011.3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 October 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2014. General principles for guidance in devising International Nonproprietary Names for pharmaceutical substances*" (PDF). World Health Organization. United Nations. Retrieved 14 February 2014.