Use of Proprietary Names by Prescribers for Discontinued Brand Drug Products With Existing Generic Equivalents

This study describes the endurance of continued use of proprietary names by prescribers for discontinued brand drug products with existing generic equivalents and to identify prescribing practice trends that can inform the formulation and evaluation of new proprietary names. A national outpatient prescription database, IMS's Vector One: National, was used to identify prescribing trends by examining drug use data for proprietary and generic names as they were written on actual prescriptions for 7 discontinued brand drug products from the years 2003 to 2010. Drug use data from years 2003 to 2010 showed the endurance of continued use of proprietary names by prescribers for all 7 studied discontinued brand drug products. Overall, the number of prescriptions written in the proprietary name decreased over time but did not cease after brand drug product discontinuation.