Prescribing Medications by Brand Name (Research Paper Sample)

Moving from prescribing medications by brand name to INN
Name
Course
Course Professor
Institution
Date of Submission Table of Contents
 TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818178"
Abstract  PAGEREF _Toc403818178 \h
2
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818179"
Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc403818179 \h
3
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818180"
Biological Medicines and Biosimillar medicines  PAGEREF _Toc403818180 \h
3
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818181"
Concerns regarding the use of biosimilar drugs  PAGEREF _Toc403818181 \h
4
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818182"
Transition from the drug brand name to the INN system of drug prescription  PAGEREF _Toc403818182 \h
5
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818183"
The International Nonproprietary Name (INN)  PAGEREF _Toc403818183 \h
6
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818184"
The European Medicines Agency  PAGEREF _Toc403818184 \h
7
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818185"
Responsibilities  PAGEREF _Toc403818185 \h
7
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818186"
Role of a Pharmacist in Determining a Drug Prescription  PAGEREF _Toc403818186 \h
9
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818187"
The Scope of Practise in Pharmacy  PAGEREF _Toc403818187 \h
10
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818188"
Job Satisfaction  PAGEREF _Toc403818188 \h
10
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818189"
Eradication of fraudulent prescription  PAGEREF _Toc403818189 \h
11
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc403818190"
Bibliography  PAGEREF _Toc403818190 \h
13

Abstract
Drug prescription is not only a routine in medical use functioning, but also plays pivotal role in improving the health status of patients seeking such services. The nature and efficacy of pharmacy services depends on the extent of professionalism, which define the methods and ethical standards with which one carries out such duties. Furthermore, pharmaceutical services vary from one place to another, and often governed by the prevailing state laws. This research paper therefore, presents a detailed discussion of two main aspect of pharmacy. The first section entails the shift in the drug prescription methods, from the initial brand based method to the modern based on the active ingredient making up the medicine. The second section outlines the contribution of a pharmacist in influencing the brand of medicine that a clinical process prescribes.
Introduction
The efforts aimed at changing the health care provider’s prescribing behaviour to achieve consistency with the ever-changing best medical practises is the chief challenge ensuring the safest dispensation and use of medicine. Due the emergence of new data about the use of drugs such as their effectiveness, dosing options, side effects, indications as well as contraindications, the existing pharmaceutical options also keep on evolving (García-Gollarte et.al, 2012). Because of the new changes in the medical practises, there are resulting gaps between the prescription options based on evidence, and the usual practises in most clinics. For example, other than the common error of under dozing and over dozing, the prescribers may occasionally give particular medicines for wrong conditions.
Biological Medicines and Biosimillar medicines
The biological medicines, also known as biologics, consist of organic compounds made through biotechnological mechanisms. The biologics appeared for use in the 1980s, and have since then advanced to bring improvements in the treatment of many diseases. Their uses as alternative medicine have revolutionized the treatment of diseases, which has led to the improvement of health status across billions of people in the world. Consequently, this category of drugs has become popular since their introduction, a process whose end has seen the diminishing power of the original biological medicine. There are many manufacturing companies, who have acquired the permission to manufacture similar brands of the original biological medicine, commonly trending the medical market as biosimillar medicines.
Because of the existing complexity in the process of manufacturing the original medicine, the biosimillar medicines do not qualify for the generic class of medicine (Dylst, Vulto & Simoens, 2013). This is mainly because this category is not typically identical to the original medicine. There are concerns regarding the authenticity and the effectiveness of the process of differentiating between such biosimillar medicines and the original biological medicines. The basis for these concerns depend on the extents of similarities observed when patients use such drugs, as compared to the original biological medicines.
For example, under same conditions of a particular patient, when a pharmacist compares a biosimillar with Infliximab, the uses of biosimilars have manifested the same therapeutic efficacy, as well as the incidences of drug related events. In addition to the similar levels of therapeutic efficacy, biosimilars are equally tolerated by the body system, and comparable in terms of their safety issues. It is the complexity in their manufacturing processes, in tandem with safety concerns that the ongoing monitoring derives its basis (Declerck & Simoens, 2012).
Concerns regarding the use of biosimilar drugs
The concerns rose over the issues relating to safety, efficacy and the cost of using the biosimilars have resulted into the urgent need for a change of prescription method from the initial brand name to the use of active ingredients. This is because of the compromise of such brands, in which certain biosimilars do not recognize the copied brands, and thus creating confusion.
The European Medicines Agency have raised a key concern through the Pharmacovigilance, which involves the criteria with which one can use to draw a line between the original biological medicine and the biosimilar medicines. The European Medicines Agency have approved the use of many biosimillar medicines. Such approvals have derived their bases on the abbreviated programs, in which the manufacturing process resulted from copying the formula of those biological medicines already in the market. Some of these biosimilar medicines in this category exist in the market, despite lack of approval by the regulatory bodies, under the legal regulatory frameworks within Europe. Their lack of approval has therefore led to the ultimate doubt about the validity of such medicines, especially the possibility of adverse reactions occurring as side effects.
The cost of purchasing the biosimilar medicines has also raised major concerns in the pharmaceutical industries in the Europe, just like other parts of the world. The relative low cost of acquiring such medicines has led into a perception by many people, that the existence of cheaper alternatives could be derailing the development of the industry. Consequently, there is an increase of pressure to prescribe the cheaper and new alternatives among patients, who may not afford the original biological medicines. Furthermore, such pressures have led to the increased use of such alternatives without any critical attention paid to the criteria of prescription and application of brand names.
Transition from the drug brand name to the INN system of drug prescription
The recent decades have been epitomised by a major burden of chronic diseases, not only among the European member states, but also across the globe. In order to curb the ever-growing menace of such diseases among populations, the concerned authorities such as the World Health Organization, through respective governments have had to act. The chief aim of such action by the WHO, through respective governments have been to facilitate, and enforce laws to ensure that all professional health workers and patients access the safest, high quality, modern and affordable medicine to improve the health status of their people. Biomedical studies over time have identified the biological medicines as one of the most effective categories of medicine that can meet this criterion.
However, the main challenge in the provision of such biological medicine has resulted from the means of identification by both patients and pharmacists during prescription. Surveys have further pointed out that the method of prescription plays a pivotal role in limiting the resulting confusion during the identification of drugs from place, particularly from one country to another within Europe (CDC, 2012). For instance, over the recent decades, the brand name has been the basis for drug prescription. There are factors that determine the brand name for a particular medicine, such as the location or trans-border movements within Europe.
Such variation have therefore been a core ingredient in breeding the much confusion when prescribing drugs from one place, especially for patients who may be new in such places. A particular brand name for a medicine used at one point may be either unfamiliar, or used for a different medicine in another place (Rotenstein et.al, 2013). Consequently, the need for a more standardised system of naming and prescribing drugs across the globe, including the European member states becomes an indispensible discourse. The European member states, in tandem with the world, have therefore joined the movement from prescribing medications by brand name to the INN International Nonproprietary Name (INN). Currently, there is a legislation process, whose purpose is to prevent doctors from brand prescription, but rather an active ingredient in the medicine, to allow easy determination by the patient.
The International Nonproprietary Name (INN)
The International Nonproprietary Name is a special term in health sciences and medicines, given to pharmaceuticals for purposes of easy identification. As initiated by the World Health Organization, the INN system of identification began to operate in 1953, for the benefit of not only the heal...