A British Approved Name (BAN) is the official non-proprietary or generic name given to a pharmaceutical substance, as defined in the British Pharmacopoeia (BP). The BAN is also the official name used in many countries across the world, especially those of the Commonwealth of Nations. Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmacon is drug, and logos is science) is the study of how chemical substances interfere with living systems. ... Look up Substance in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Substance may refer to: Substance theory: in philosophy, substance is that element of an object without which it would not exist, or what exists only by itself (causa sui) Chemical substance: in chemistry, a substance is an element, compound with uniform composition. ... The British Pharmacopoeia is the authoritative collection of standards for UK medicinal substances. ... The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ...

Combination preparations

BANs are unique, perhaps, in that names are assigned for combination preparations as well as single-drug preparations. For example the BAN Co-amoxiclav is assigned to preparations containing amoxicillin and clavulanic acid. Most other pharmacopoeias simply refer to combination products by both ingredients in the preparation, in this example "amoxicillin with clavulanic acid". Co-amoxiclav is the British Approved Name, in the British Pharmacopoeia, for the combination antibiotic containing amoxicillin and clavulanic acid. ... Amoxicillin (INN) or amoxycillin (former BAN) is a moderate-spectrum β-lactam antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections caused by susceptible microorganisms. ... Clavulanic acid is often combined with amoxicillin (to form co-amoxiclav) to treat certain infections caused by bacteria, including infections of the ears, lungs, sinus, skin, and urinary tract. ...

BAN Harmonisation

Recent European Union legislation, requiring harmonisation of the BP with the European Pharmacopoeia (EP), as well as the adoption of International Nonproprietary Names across the EU has meant that, with the notable exception of adrenaline/epinephrine, BANs are now the same as the INNs. An International Nonproprietary Name (INN) is the official non-proprietary or generic name given to a pharmaceutical substance, as designated by the World Health Organization. ... Epinephrine (INN), also epinephrin (both pronounced ep-i-NEF-rin), or adrenaline (BAN) is a hormone and a neurotransmitter. ...

This has resulted in the interesting situation in many countries, Australia for example, where former BANs continue to be used. While the British Pharmacopoeia and BANs are the official pharmacopoeia/names as defined by legislation in these countries, the former-BANs continue to be used, in contradiction to the legislation, purportedly because of the difficulty of changeover. Inevitably, however, the importance of the BP means that INNs will likely eventually be adopted in these countries also.

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