> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask]
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
> Sent: 17 November 1998 17:33
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: strawpoll #2 (sort of)
>
>
> BANs to rINNs
>
> In 1965 the EU said all Europeans should use WHO's recommended
> International
> Nonproprietary Names (rINNs) for drugs. Britain preferred to
> stick to our own
> system of British Approved Names (BANs) and did nothing much to
> comply until
> quite recently when the MCA (Medicines Control Agency) apparently
> decided on
> our behalf that we should now do so. They issued a Discussion Paper in
> Dec.1997, requiring answers by the end of January. Most people
> seem to find
> the
> whole thing a slight bore/inconvenience but accept it as
> inevitable for the
> greater good, even if it means abandoning adrenaline for epinephrine. Has
> anyone on gp-uk any strong views or comments to make?
>
> Practical difficulties of managing the changeover have delayed
> the start of
> implementation -- originally forecast for the end of 1998 -- but this now
> seems
> likely to begin in mid to late 1999.
>
> The changes affect in practice around 100 commonly used drugs in all, an A
> list
> of some 20 or so where the change is considered a potential cause of
> confusion,
> and dual labelling is to be used for the time being, and a B list
> of 70 or 80
> others, where the changes are mainly very minor, usually adoption of a
> different spelling, e.g. e instead of oe, f instead of ph, i
> instead of y, and
> here the new names/spellings will become official next year at a
> stroke of the
> (Parliamentary) pen. (Another 150 or so changes affect drugs that
> have been
> discontinued and are no longer generally available.)
>
> Some of those to have dual labelling are complete changes, like
> adrenaline/epinephrine, amethocaine/tetracaine,
> trimeprazine/alimemazine, but
> others are hardly likely to cause much confusion, e.g. procaine
> penicillin/procaine benzylpenicillin, bendrofluazide/bendroflumethiazide,
> frusemide/furosemide.
>
> Then there is a C list of 30 BANs we can stick with because there were
> objections to the proposed INNs and they never became rINNs, a
> nice lawyerlike
> workaround. It seems that such objections may delay any decision
> indefinitely,
> which saves us for the foreseeable future from having to talk about
> deferoxamine or spell cyclosporin with an i (unlike aciclovir, which lost
> its y
> officially in Britain in 1995, not that many people seem to have noticed).
> This
> list introduces further inconsistencies, because while most sulphas will
> become
> sulfas, sulphafurazole will keep its ph in Britain because
> somebody raised a
> protest against sulfafurazole -- GOK why, after acceptance of all
> the other
> sulfas.
>
> All changes will presumably be adopted by the Roscoe and Black
> Lab spelling
> checkers, and even by the voice recognition companies in due course.
>
> Senior Lurker
>
>
>
Absolute pain to have them in parallel and also a pain to change the data
base of the spellchecker. (Hugh, do you have a complete list?). Find and
replace 100 times!
I will post the changes on my web site at /dictionary.html#changes in due
course for all those with the dictionary with instructions on the
conversion. Please e-mail me direct to
[log in to unmask] if you have a copy and want to
change.
Trefor
Dr Trefor Roscoe
GP Beighton Health Centre
Queens Road, Beighton Sheffield S20 5JX
Tel;0114 269 5061 Fax;0114 269 7186
GP Tutor Informatics - N Trent
http://www.medical-legal.co.uk
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