Medicines

International Nonproprietary Names
(Global Data Hub)

International Nonproprietary Names

Guidance

International Nonproprietary Names (INN) facilitate the identification of pharmaceutical substances or active pharmaceutical ingredients. Each INN is a unique name that is globally recognized and is public property. A nonproprietary name is also known as a generic name.

Mandate

WHO has a constitutional mandate to "develop, establish and promote international standards with respect to biological, pharmaceutical and similar products".

The World Health Organization collaborates closely with INN experts and national nomenclature committees to select a single name of worldwide acceptability for each active substance that is to be marketed as a pharmaceutical. To avoid confusion, which could jeopardize the safety of patients, trade-marks should neither be derived from INNs nor contain common stems used in INNs. The selection and publication of INNs falls under the responsibility of the HSS/EMP/QSM team of the INN Programme.

INN Global Data Hub (INNHub) Copyright Code of Conduct

INNHub is a restricted information service offered free of charge by WHO.

If and when granted, access to INNHub services is restricted to the authorized member only and for the intended use. Use of INNHub is subject to the acceptance of the below code of conduct. For further information or assistance, please contact us by email: innprogramme@who.int

Copyright

INNHub is a collaborative project. Copyright of any material made available by the INNHub services is held by the a relevant service hosted by INNHub. Applications for reuse of materials and all other inquiries should be addressed to the relevant service administrator. Copyright in individual working documents and resources made available on INNHub and its services rests with the original publishers of these documents. The copyright-holders alone are responsible for the contents of their documents.

When granted, access to service(s) and use of information provided via INNHub are subject to the
World Health Organization (WHO) Copyright and License agreement and the specific license agreements of the individual INNHub services.

Information provided by INNHub is made available for non-commercial use only.

The information presented is protected under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literature and Artistic works, under other international conventions and under national laws on copyright and neighboring rights. Extracts of the information in the web site may be reviewed, reproduced or translated for research or private study but not for sale or for use in conjunction with commercial purposes. Any use of information in the web site should be accompanied by an acknowledgment of the relevant INNHub service as the source, citing the uniform resource locator (URL) of the web source. Reproduction or translation of portions or all of the information posted on this web site, require explicit, prior authorization in writing.

Applications and enquiries should be addressed to administrator(s) of the relevant INNHub service.

The designations employed and the presentation of the information in this web site do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers' products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the World Health Organization in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters.

The World Health Organization does not warrant that the information contained in the web site is complete and correct and shall not be liable whatsoever for any damages incurred as a result of its use.

(C) Copyright World Health Organization (WHO) INNHub, 2000-2010. All Rights Reserved.

Liability Disclaimer

This system contains submissions from parties outside the World Health Organization. The views expressed in these submissions are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Health Organization.

The designations employed and the presentation of the information on this system do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers' products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the World Health Organization in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters.

The World Health Organization does not warrant that the information contained in the web site is complete and correct and shall not be liable whatsoever for any damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of this system. The authors of contributions to discussion forums are alone responsible for their contributions.

Enquiries

For information on INN, please contact the innprogramme@who.int

Dr R. Balocco Mattavelli
World Health Organization
1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 791 47 30

INN Global Data Hub Documents

INN Global Data Hub User API

Contact information
World Health Organization
International Nonproprietary Names
(HSS/EMP/INN)
20 Avenue Appia
1211, Geneva 27
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 791 1249
Fax: +41 22 791 4730
Email: innprogramme@who.int