BACKGROUND

Prescribing of brand name drugs when generic alternatives exist has been linked to decreased patient adherence and worse health outcomes. 1 Furthermore, failure to substitute brand name for generic drugs results in billions of dollars in estimated excess costs to individual patients and the US health system yearly. 2 Using drugs’ trade names rather than generic names in clinical practice has been shown to increase usage of these brand name drugs over their generic equivalents, even when pharmacy substitution is available. 3 American medical schools have therefore included policies supporting use of nonproprietary drug names in the clinical setting as part of a range of interventions to promote generic prescribing and limit industry influence on medical students and trainees. 4