Pharmaceutical companies might soon experience heightened scrutiny over their branding strategies as the government addresses the issue of medications with similar-sounding and look-alike names. The initiative aims to boost patient safety and mitigate the risks associated with look-alike sound-alike (LASA) drugs.
The government is expected to recognize only the original brand names approved by the regulator, banning any subsequent brands with identical or similar names and appearances from being marketed.
Drug manufacturers will be required to upload their product formulations and brand names onto the government’s portal.
As reported by business-standard.com, to address the problem of identical brand names in the market, the government has proposed making the database of all products with brand names on the Sugam portal publicly accessible. India has struggled for a long time with different drugs being produced and marketed under the same brand name.