Guidelines on the use of International Nonproprietary Names (INNs) for pharmaceutical substances
1. General introduction:
The present guidelines on the use of International Nonproprietary Names (INNs) provide a general explanation of the INN selection process. They should be of interest to drug regulatory authorities for use in the marketing authorization/registration of products, to drug manufacturers requesting new INNs, and to those using INNs, such as patent authorities/offices, trademark lawyers and specialists, health professionals, scientists and teachers, as well as to anyone interested in nomenclature.
General information on the INN system:
An INN identifies a pharmaceutical substance or active pharmaceutical ingredient by a unique name that is globally recognized and is public property. A nonproprietary name is also known as a generic name. The INN system as it exists today was initiated in 1950 by World Health Assembly resolution WHA3.11 (see section 5.1) and began operating in 1953, when the first list of INNs for pharmaceutical substances was published. The cumulative list of INNs now stands at some 7000 names designated since that time, and this number is growing every year by some 120–150 new INNs.
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Table of Contents
3. Principles for selection of
INNs
WHO TRS (Technical Report Series) 902, 2002 Annex 12:
