A British Approved Name (BAN) is the official, non-proprietary, or generic name given to a
pharmaceutical
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...
substance, as defined in the
British Pharmacopoeia (BP). The BAN is also the official name used in some countries around the world, because starting in 1953, proposed new names were evaluated by a panel of experts from
WHO in conjunction with the BP commission to ensure naming consistency worldwide
(an effort leading to the
International Nonproprietary Name system). There is also a British Approved Name (Modified) (BANM).
Combination preparations
BANs are unique in that names are assigned for combination preparations as well as single-drug preparations. For example, the BAN
Co-amoxiclav
Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, also known as co-amoxiclav or amox-clav, sold under the brand name Augmentin, among others, is an antibiotic medication used for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections. It is a combination consisting of a ...
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".
The prefix of "co-" is used for many combination drugs, including opioid with paracetamol or aspirin
analgesics (e.g.,
Co-codamol
Codeine/paracetamol, also known as codeine/acetaminophen and co-codamol, is a compound analgesic consisting of a combination of codeine phosphate and paracetamol (acetaminophen). Codeine/paracetamol is used for the relief of mild to moderate pai ...
,
Co-codaprin,
Co-dydramol,
Co-proxamol). The other commonly encountered opioid combination is the
anti-diarrhoeal, non-analgesic mixture of
diphenoxylate and
atropine,
Co-phenotrope (a.k.a.
Lomotil). Also
antibiotics
An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and preventio ...
(e.g.,
Co-fluampicil and
Co-trimoxazole), drugs to lower blood pressure (e.g.,
Co-tenidone),
diuretics (e.g.,
Co-amilofruse and
Co-amilozide),
gastrointestinal drugs (e.g.,
Co-danthrusate), and anti-
Parkinsonism
Parkinsonism is a clinical syndrome characterized by tremor, bradykinesia (slowed movements), rigidity, and postural instability. These are the four motor symptoms found in Parkinson's disease (PD), after which it is named, dementia with Lew ...
agents such as
Co-careldopa,
Co-beneldopa, and others (e.g.,
Co-cyprindiol).
BAN harmonisation
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
legislation from 2001 required harmonisation of the BP with the
European Pharmacopoeia (EP), as well as the adoption of
International Nonproprietary Names through directives (2001/82/EC and 2001/83/EC, as amended, and 2003/63/EC). Across the EU has meant that, with the notable exception of
adrenaline/epinephrine,
BANs are now the same as the INNs. For example, the old BAN ''methicillin'' was replaced with the current BAN ''
meticillin'', matching the INN.
This has resulted in an interesting situation in other countries that use BANs. While the British Pharmacopoeia and BANs are the official pharmacopoeia/names defined by legislation in many of these countries, the former BANs often continue to be used, purportedly because of the difficulty of changeover. Despite the importance of the BP, there appears to be little or no movement in the direction of changing these names. In Australia, the
Australian Approved Names are generally the same as BANs, but a few exceptions remain.
See also
*
British Pharmacopoeia
*
International English food terms
*
Nomenclature
Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal conventions of everyday speech to the internationally ag ...
*
United States Adopted Name
References
{{Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in the United Kingdom
Pharmacological classification systems
Pharmacy in the United Kingdom
Pharmacology