New Kangtec's "one person uses two drugs", although legal but not necessarily reasonable!

Over the weekend, Pharaoh had a cold after a long absence, not only coughing, stuffy nose, runny nose, but also rare symptoms of fever and sore limbs, so he took out the "Xinkangtec" he bought before and continued to take it, but he wanted to finish it.
One box, the symptoms of nasal congestion and runny nose disappeared, but the symptoms of fever and sore limbs have not improved significantly for many days.
It is very strange? Thinking that maybe the drug course was not enough, I went to the pharmacy to buy a new box, but after taking it a few times, the effect was immediate
.
At the same time, looking at the two boxes of "Xinkangtec" before and after, it is obvious that not only are there two types of blue and red on the packaging, but also the ingredients and indications of the drug are also significantly different
.
Recalling the initial symptoms of a cold, it turns out that taking the "blue suit" is not symptomatic at all
.
Image source: Questions and Answers.
But why are there two completely different indications for the same Xinkangtec? In this case, will the patient use the wrong drug because of the "Xin Kangtec" trademark? In fact, when Xinkangtec first entered the Chinese market, the content of pseudoephedrine in the ingredients was higher than that of other domestic drugs.
The main reason was that the initial prescription volume of GSK in foreign markets was relatively high.
Colored clothes) are more effective than other drugs in relieving nasal mucosal congestion
.
However, the pros and cons are that its high pseudoephedrine composition also brings certain risks to Sino-US Smith Kline
.
In 2010, including Shandong, Jiangsu, Hubei, Guangdong and other places, it was revealed that the police cracked the production and sale of methamphetamine cases, and the raw materials used were all from Contec
.
At the same time, this is only the content of the case announced through the news, and it is not ruled out that there were related similar situations before 2010
.
Therefore, in response to the high pseudoephedrine content of Xinkangtec in the blue package, Sino-US Smith Kline has improved the composition of the new Kangtec Meipu Pseudoephedrine Tablets (red package) launched later, reducing the content of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride—— Reduced from 90 mg to 30 mg
.
After this, in 2013, the State Food and Drug Administration changed the management of compound preparations containing six types of drugs with ephedrine content exceeding 30mg from non-prescription drugs to prescription drugs, but Contec was still able to continue to occupy the market with the new Contec (red pack).
OTC cold medicine market, avoid being out
.
Xinkangtec's "one person uses two medicines" is legal, but unreasonable.
However, even if Sino-US Smith Kline has repeatedly stated in public that the two packaging indications under the "Xinkangtec" trademark are different, for patients, there is a lack of On the basis of systematic training on correct medication, there are very few cases where medication can be used for symptoms
.
So the question is, does Xinkangtec's situation of "one person taking two medicines" complies with the relevant regulations? First of all, unlike most people's perceptions, "Xinkangtec" is not the trade name of the drug from Sino-US Smith Kline, and the facts have also proved that the drug does not have the qualification to have a trade name.
Relevant experts explained that according to relevant national regulations, For drugs with new compounds, new structures and new patents, in order to determine their uniqueness, the state will grant them a unique "trade name", which usually exists in categories such as new drugs and improved new drugs, such as the "trade name" of carelizumab.
Erica" ​​and "Bai Zean" of Tislelizumab
.
Strictly speaking, "Xinkangtec" is just the "brand name" given by Sino-US Smith Kline to this type of drug, and does not have the attributes of one-to-one correspondence with the drug.
100 medicines with different ingredients that are also legal under trademark law
.
However, in terms of the properties of the drug, the above-mentioned situation clearly exists in an unreasonable situation that makes it easy for patients to take wrong medication.
Is it reasonable? As the surname of the boss, it is obvious that most of them cannot correctly distinguish what the trade name is and what is the brand name, but the abbreviations of medicines such as "Xinkangtec" are the most frequently used carriers, both in life and in clinical practice
.
Just do a simple experiment.
If you search for it in Baidu, the relevant content is often "How many times a day? Can you eat it during breastfeeding? Are there any side effects?" Such questions and answers
.
It can be seen that at least in the general cognition of patients, both the trade name and the brand name have a one-to-one correspondence with the drug
.
If the new Contac is only distinguished by color, even if it is legal, it does not seem to be reasonable
.
It stands to reason that, according to the regulations of the health administrative department: "Physicians should use the generic name of the drug, the patented drug name of the new active compound and the name of the compound preparation drug approved and published by the drug supervision and administration department to issue a prescription
.
" But the reality is that a hospital pharmacy There are usually a variety of drugs with the same generic name produced by multiple pharmaceutical companies.
In order to help distinguish the products of various pharmaceutical companies, the most common practice in prescribing is to add the trade name or brand name after the generic name.
There is a one-to-one correspondence between drugs
.
But when it comes to OTC drugs, how likely is it that patients can buy symptomatic drugs at pharmacies relying only on their brand names? If there are more cases such as "Xinkangtec", how to avoid repeated or wrong medication? At the same time, according to the relevant provisions of the newly promulgated "Trademark Law" and "Drug Administration Law": the state has abolished the requirement that human medicines must use registered trademarks
.
However, many pharmaceutical companies still register trademarks in order to increase the popularity of drugs, enhance the competitiveness of their products, ensure the quality of drugs, and make consumers prefer their products to buy them
.
As a result, it is obviously unrealistic to rely on the government to force companies to register trademarks for each drug separately, and it is undoubtedly even more unrealistic to cancel the trademarks of OTC drugs and use generic names to distinguish them
.
Then the simplest and most effective solution.
On the one hand, drug manufacturers must pay attention to the above problems, so as to consciously standardize the use of trademarks in the production of drugs; Indications of drugs, reduce the probability of wrong medication and repeated medication
.
Hopefully, there will be less and less unreasonable cases of "one person taking two medicines" such as "Xinkangtec", making the medication environment more harmonious and orderly
.