Inhouse Pharmacy’s Guide to Alternative Names for Medications

A blister pack with two capsules popped out.

Inhouse Pharmacy offers alternatives to some of the most popular medication names, but we may offer them under different medicine names than you’re used to. If you’ve had a prescription filled recently, you probably noticed that many medicines you get at your pharmacy have a different name than what your doctor wrote on your prescription. When filling your prescription at an overseas pharmacy, there can be still more names involved. It’s still perfectly safe to choose a reputable online pharmacy to fill your prescriptions, but there are some procedures about pharmaceutical names you should be aware of.

What’s In A Name?

There are several different types of names every pharmaceutical has or, at one point, had. Inhouse Pharmacy lists alternatives for the two most common name categories: brand and generic.

  • Original Brand Names: Brand names are the protected names the originator of the drug, the company who first discovered, licensed, and offered the product, is able to offer pharmaceuticals as. A specific medicine is often only known by its brand name while a patent (or brand-name protected) medication.
  • Generic Names: When possible, Inhouse Pharmacy offers alternatives to brand medication names that are referred to as generic medications. When a generic alternative is available, it means that the patent on the drug held by the originator has run out and other manufacturers are able to offer the medication. These contain the same dosage of the active ingredient and are considered therapeutically equivalent. When a generic alternative is new, the two different medicine names are often used as both are available.
  • Chemical Names: This is not one of the listed name alternatives used by Inhouse Pharmacy, as they are often too obscure, cumbersome, and confusing for easy use. These names describe the active ingredient using a recognized chemistry format. These chemical names are often the source of the shortened version used to create generic names.

While this covers the standard naming practices of pharmaceuticals worldwide, there is one more complicating factor when crossing borders. Brand names (and sometimes generic names) sometimes differ from country to country. As an example, the popular name brand pain reliever Tylenol has a readily generic version in the United States of America known as acetaminophen which is sometimes shortened to APAP. This generic name comes from its chemical name of N-acetyl-para-aminophenol. In several other countries, it is generically known as paracetamol which is based on a different shortening of the chemical name. It also may be known by other brand names such as Panadol.

Don’t worry. Most medication names aren’t as varied and Inhouse Pharmacy alternatives are always clearly labeled.

Why All The Confusion?

The chemical name of the active ingredient in a medication is generally settled upon by explaining its chemical makeup using a recognized chemistry standard. Generic names are taken from a shortened form of this name but also factor in the class of medication. That’s why many medicines discovered in modern times will share an aspect of their name with other medications in their class, such as blood pressure medications ending in -opril or -olol depending on their mechanism of action.

Different medicine names can also occur based on the spelling conventions of the country the medication was sourced from. Some Inhouse Pharmacy alternatives are caused because the sourcing country makes spelling changes in order to be correct by that nation’s customs, such as Oestradiol and Estradiol for the same medicine. Different names can occur when a manufacturer chooses to release a brand-generic medication that is no longer protected by a patent to the originator. In this case, another manufacturer might create a generic marketed under a brand to increase consumer confidence and loyalty.

Different medications in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes.

Popular Examples Of Inhouse Pharmacy Alternatives

  • Advair: A popular asthma inhaler, this is a combination medication of fluticasone and salmeterol. In the UK, this medication is marketed under the name Seretide and other countries also offer Seroflo. Both offer the same active ingredients in the same ratio.
  • Allegra: Fexofenadine is a popular allergy medication that is sold under many different medicine names around the world. Our alternative medication name Telfast is made by Aventis, a premium pharmaceutical manufacturer.
  • Celebrex: A NSAID made by Pfizer to help manage pain, celecoxib is available in generic form (also made by Pfizer), as well as under the name Cobix.
  • Claritin: Not all Inhouse Pharmacy alternatives will look overly different as the packaging for Claratyne is instantly recognizable, comes from the same manufacturer, and just has a slightly different spelling from its US loratadine counterpart.
  • Effexor: We offer several alternatives to the popular anti-depressant including Efexor, Venlor, and Enlafax, all made by some of the top names in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
  • Flonase: Fluticasone Propionate nasal spray helps millions of allergy sufferers when hay-fever season rolls around. Flixonase is made by Glaxo Wellcome, the sister company to the US’s GlaxoSmithKline.
  • Flovent: The popular Fluticasone Propionate inhaler is available under the Inhouse Pharmacy alternatives Flixotide and Floair, both in a variety of strengths.
  • Prilosec: A popular heartburn relief medication, we offer both the generic Omeprazole as well as Astra Zeneca’s branded offering Losec in both 20mg and 40mg strengths.
  • Tegretol: The manufacturer of this popular anticonvulsant offers it under several different medicine names internationally. We carry both Tegretol and Tegrital in different strengths for both regular and controlled-release formats.

Save Money On Prescriptions Safely

You don’t have to skip doses or half pills in order to stretch your healthcare budget. Instead take advantage of low-cost Inhouse Pharmacy alternatives to your most expensive medications. They offer the same active ingredients and equivalent therapeutic benefits but come at a lower cash price without the hassle of insurance claims or preauthorizations.

Speak with your physician about getting a prescription that’s right for you. Then order your medications and fax your prescription to our experienced pharmacists. As a regulated online pharmacy, we’ll fill your prescription with high-quality medications using internationally recognized best practices, then ship it discreetly to your door. Find the Inhouse Pharmacy alternatives to your medication names and start saving on your healthcare costs today.