An International Nonproprietary Name (INN) is the official non-proprietary or generic name given to a pharmaceutical substance, as designated by the World Health Organization. The plethora of named proprietary preparations containing a given substance can lead to confusion about the identity of the active ingredient.
INNs facilitate communication by providing a standard name for each substance. A similar role is played in chemistry by IUPAC names, however these are less suited to common usage, being typically very long and unwieldy.
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