"A ROSE by any other name would smell as sweet", said William Shakespeare's Juliet, but a drug name pronounced differently may not, according to an editorial in this month's edition of Australian Prescriber, the official organ of NPS MedicineWise.
Former editor of NPS RADAR Craig Patterson highlights the challenges facing dispensers and clinicians trying to pronounce some new drugs such as xekizumab, rovalpituzumab, tofacitinib and idelalisib.
"The problem of lookalike and soundalike drug and brand names is well recognised, but there is an evidence gap regarding any impact that mispronunciation may have on patient safety," Patterson wrote.
Telephone orders between prescribers, clinical handovers, voice-recognition software and text-to-speech systems are all part of the problem - see the three-minute read at nps.org.au.
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