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International Nonproprietary Names
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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.
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General
guidance
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 EMP/RHT/TSN/INN team of the INN Programme.
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Dear INN Stakeholders,
As a result of cost increases and dollar rate exchange, and to permit the INN Secretariat to continue with the ongoing efforts to make the INN selection process more efficient, transparent and user-friendly, it has been decided to increase the user fee from US$ 9000 to US$ 12000 with immediate effect, that is for all new INN requests submitted to WHO as of 1 July 2014. Indeed in order to be able to continue covering part of the rising cost of the INN selection process, it has become apparent that the fee now needs to be increased to US$ 12000 (no other currency is accepted) for the processing of each new INN request submitted to WHO.
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Thank you for your understanding,
INN Programme Secretariat
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Dear INN Stakeholders,
In order for the INN name selection process to run smoothly, due to massive INN request submissions close to the deadline, the INN Experts proposed to limit the number of requests that will be accepted during the last month before the deadline.
For this reason after the 6th December 2024 only the first 30 new requests regularly completed and submitted will be accepted for discussion during the next 80th INN consultation.
A counter will appear on the INN web site to show the number of requests still available.
This procedure is aimed to strongly encourage early submissions and to give sufficient time to the Secretariat and the INN Expert Group to review properly the INN requests.
Thank you for your understanding,
INN Programme Secretariat
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Requesting an INN
Selection process of INNs
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Full
text
To apply for a new INN using the on-line application, please use the INN
Request Form
INN request [pdf 2475kb]
Please, download the INN request form and open it using Acrobat Reader as a stand alone application!!
Mandatory additional information for Proteins (including monoclonal antibodies)
Mandatory additional information for Nucleic acid-based substances
Mandatory additional information for Cell-based therapies
User Manual for on-line application
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 4856/5853
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