Medication Errors

Name Differentiation Project

The Office of Generic Drugs requested manufacturers of sixteen look-alike name pairs to voluntarily revise the appearance of their established names in order to minimize medication errors resulting from look-alike confusion. The project spanned a two month period beginning in March 2001 and ending in May 2001. In total, 142 letters were issued for 159 applications. The letters encouraged manufacturers to supplement their applications with revised labels and labeling that visually differentiated their established names with the use of "Tall Man" letters. The following is a list of the established names involved and the recommended revisions:

Established Name	Recommended Name
Acetohexamide Acetazolamide	AcetaHEXAMIDE AcetaZOLAMIDE
Bupropion Buspirone	BuPROPion BusPIRone
Chlorpromazine Chlorpropamide	ChlorproMAZINE ChlorproPAMIDE
Clomiphene Clomipramine	ClomiPHENE ClomiPRAMINE
Cyclosporine Cycloserine	CycloSPORINE CycloSERINE
Daunorubicin Doxorubicin	DAUNOrubicin DOXOrubicin
Dimenhydrinate Diphenhydramine	DimenhyDRINATE DiphenhydrAMINE
Dobutamine Dopamine	DOBUTamine DOPamine
Glipizide Glyburide	GlipiZIDE GlyBURIDE
Hydralazine Hydroxyzine	HydrALAZINE HydrOXYzine
Medroxyprogesterone	MedroxyPROGESTERone
Methylprednisolone Methyltestosterone	MethylPREDNISolone MethylTESTOSTERone
Mitoxantrone	MitoXANTRONE
Nicardipine Nifedipine	NiCARdipine NIFEdipine
Prednisone Prednisolone	PredniSONE PrednisoLONE
Sulfadiazine Sulfisoxazole	SulfADIAZINE SulfiSOXAZOLE
Tolazamide Tolbutamide	TOLAZamide TOLBUTamide
Vinblastine Vincristine	VinBLAStine VinCRIStine