Therapeutic ingredients to be renamed

The Federal Department of Health’s Therapeutic Goods Admnistration (TGA) began updating the medicine names in April this year, with a four-year transition period for these changes to end by April 2020.The TGA explained that this process was being undertaken to align some of the medicine ingredient names used in Australia with those used internationally and to reduce confusion for consumers and healthcare professionals who travelled.The changes will range from minor changes such as a ‘y’ to an ‘i’ to significant changes that will require that both the old and new name appear on the label for an additional three years after the end of the transition period (ie, April 2023) to allow consumers and healthcare professionals to become familiar with the new ingredient name.Optometry Australia (OA) national clinical policy advisor Mr Simon Hanna said, For endorsed optometrists, the impact of the change will be to ensure that the correct terminology and spelling are used on prescription pads or in their practice managent software. Making these amendments in practice will ensure professionalism when presenting to pharmacy and consistency in collaboration with other healthcare practitioners. OA advised that ingredients in the following therapeutically-endorsed medicines would be subject to name changes: amethocaine, atropine, cephazolin, cyclosporine, flurbiprofen, lignocaine.A full list of the ingredients to be renamed is available on www.tga.gov.au