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The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 264 No 7080 p131
January 22, Letters

Drug names

Simple solution

From Mr K. D. Piddington, MRPharmS

SIR,—I fail to see the concern being expressed over the possible confusion arising out of the similarity of names of Losec and Lasix. Here in the United States the manufacturers resolved the problem by renaming Losec as Prilosec. Why can they not do the same for the UK?
Incidentally, all prescriptions written for Medicaid (the nearest to socialised medicine in America) are filled with the generic (if available) equivalent, regardless of what the prescriber wrote. Would not such a practice save untold millions for the financially strapped National Health Service?

Keith Piddington
Florida, United States