List Of Drugs and Generic and Trade Names

Government officials, researchers, doctors, and others who write about the new compounds use the drug's generic name because it refers to the drug itself, not to a particular company's brand of the drug or a specific product. However, doctors often use the trade name on prescriptions, because it is easier to remember and doctors usually learn about new drugs by the trade name.

The term generic, is generally assumed to be a low-quality version of a trade or brand name product. This applies to major household and food items, but drugs are devoid of it. Generic drugs are just as effective as brand name drugs. In fact, generic drug makers manufacture many trade-name products for companies that control the trade names. Sometimes, more than one generic version of a drug is available. For example, many manufacturers sell versions of Acetaminophen.

The generic and brand names can thus be very different, but both can refer to the same drug of a common chemical name and/or structure.