Confusing Ayurvedic Medicine Names

Patients usually get confused with  Ayurvedic medicine names. Some of the Ayurvedic medicines have different names based on regional language differences. Here is an attempt to clear the doubts on Ayurvedic medicine names.

Guggulu

Name of Ayurvedic medicine – Guggulu –
Guggulu is pronounced differently, like Gulgulu, guggulu, guggul. But all are one and the same.

Eg: Kaishora Guggulu = Kaishora gulgulu = kaishora guggul = kaishor guggul.

Amrutadi Guggulu = Amrutadi Gulgulu = Amrutadi Guggul.

Vati, Lehyam, Kashayam

Vati refers to Ayurvedic tablet. Gulika, Gutika, Vati, Vataka, Bati are used synonymously.
Eg: Chandraprabha vati = Chandraprabha tablets = Chandraprabha Gulika.

Indian medicine name – Lehyam
Synonyms of lehyams are – leham, leha, lehya, leh, avaleha
Eg: Kooshmanda avaleha = kooshmanda lehya
Agastya Haritaki Rasayanam, Agastya rasayana, Agastya Haritaki lehya – all these three are one and the same.

Ayurvedic medicine names – kashayam
Kashayam has synonyms like Kashay, Kashaya, Kada, Kwatha, Kwath etc.
Eg: Sukumaram kashayam = sukumara kashay, sukumaram kashayam tablet = Sukumaram kwath tablets

Dashamoola kada = Dashamoola kwatha = Dashamoola kashayam

Name of Indian medicine – Choornam
Choornam has synonyms like Chooran, Choorna, Churna etc.
Dadimashtaka Choorna = Dadimastaka Chooran.

Indian medicine names – Miscellaneous
Agastya rasayana = Agasthya rasayanam=  Agasthya rasayan
Chyawanprash = Chawana prasam = Chyawanaprash
Draksharishtam = Draksharishta

Proprietary medicines

Nutrich tablet is a veterinary medicine for dog care, manufactured by Virbac.
Nutrich capsule is Ayurvedic capsule for hair care.
Nutrich oil is an Ayurvedic hair oil.

Femton Syrup is a proprietary Ayurvedic medicine manufactured by Ayulabs Pharmaceuticals. It is a comprehensive remedy for uterine affection and is a uterine tonic. It relieves menstrual cramps.

Femitone Syrup is a proprietary Ayurvedic medicine, manufactured by Nagarjuna Ayurvedic Group, Kerala, used in treatment of heavy periods and bleeding.

GP-500 Capsule is a proprietary Ayurvedic medicine manufactured by Zen Labs Ltd. It is used in the treatment of skin diseases.

GP500 is an allopathic medicine, used to temporarily treat cough and runny/stuffy nose, common cold, allergies etc. It contains Guaifenesin and Pseudoephedrine.

Thyrocon is an allopathic medicine containing Thyroxine, used for the treatment of hypothyroidism.
In the same name of thyrocon, there exists a proprietary Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of hypothyroidism.

In India, where multiple medicinal systems are prevalent, medicine name mix – miss matches are harming the reputation pretty badly. There are different Ayurvedic and Allopathic medicines with different ingredients, but with same medicine name. Even worse, there are same Ayurvedic medicines with same name but different ingredients. There should be a strict combined uniform system in place to avoid medicine name confusion.

Neurocare –
Pentacare neurocare capsule is an Ayurvedic product for treating neuropathy, paralysis etc.
Inlife Neuro Care is another Ayurvedic product with very similar ingredients and usage.

Ayurvedic and allopathic medicines with same names

Ayurvedic and Allopathic medicines with same name –

Flexi – Allopathic medicines of Adley Formulation contains Ondansetron – medicine used to treat nausea and vomiting.
Flexi capsule and oil – Ayurvedic medicine of Biolife contains Ashwagandha and Nirgundi – is used to treat joint pain, back pain and spondylosis.
Flexi Joint cream and capsule – Ayurvedic medicine of Vee Excel Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. contains Bala, Dashamoola, Rasna etc used in arthritis, joint pain etc.
 Pharmaceuticals Ltd. contains Chondroitin Sulphate 400 mg and Glucosamine Sulfate – 750 mg used in treating osteo arthritis and osteoporosis.

Acinorm –
contains Omeprazole, manufactured by Scott-Edil Pharmacia Ltd
Acinorm capsule – Ayurvedic medicine by UAP Pharma, contains Avipattikara Churna, Kamdudha ras, Chandrakala Ras etc – used in acid peptic disorders.

Jointcare
Jointcare oil is an Ayurvedic oil manufactured by Bacfo to treat arthritis pain externally.
Seven Seas Jointcare  capsule is a combination of Omega-3 Fish Oil Plus Glucosamine, meant for oral consumption.

Jointcare tablet and capsule are manufactured by Bacfo.
Jointcare capsule of Himalaya is available in Europe and America is a replica of Rumalaya forte tablet for the western market.

Ayurvedic medicines with similar names

Traditional Vs Proprietary   
Amavatari
Amavatari ras tablet – is a traditional Ayurvedic medicine, a herbo-mineral preparation used in treating rheumatoid arthritis, manufactured by Baidyanath, Dabur and Divya Pharmacy
Amavatari kashayam and Amavatari kashayam tablet – are proprietary Ayurvedic medicines of AVN Ayurveda Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., is herbal medicine, used in treating rheumatoid arthritis. But the above two are completely different medicines.

The problem:
Many Allopathic medicine shops also store Ayurvedic medicines also in their shelves. The medical store wants to sell the medicine that is most sought and bought by the patients, which is fair. But if the medical store has medicines with same name of both allopathy and Ayurveda, then there is maximum chances of giving Flexy of Allopathic medicine in place of Flexy of Ayurveda. Such a mistake can be very dangerous to patient’s health.

Even in cases where Ayurveda and allopathic medicine stores are completely different, patient may visit an allopathy store with an Ayurveda prescription and may get confused.

Solutions

Need for compulsory trade mark:
All Ayurvedic medicine names should be trade marked first, before the medicines are approved for registration. If trade marking is made compulsory, then all the medicine names will be scrutinized if they are trespassing some other branding or some other medicine’s names, then objections will be raised and the over ruling company will not get the medicine name. Hence, it will be very easy for the authorities to avoid mixing of medicine names./
This trade marking rule may cause financial concerns to low cost, small Ayurvedic pharmacies. But for the benefit of Ayurveda and in the interest of patients (and doctors), this rule is a high necessity.

State-wise Ayurvedic medicine license approval system should go
The medicine license approval for Ayurvedic medicine happens at state level. So, there are numerous license approval authorities in one country. Though there are Drugs And Cosmetics Act and Rules to control the license approval process, much of the theories are left to the licensing authority’s assumptions.
Hence, the set of rules and criteria for Ayurvedic medicine license approval in Uttar Pradesh, is different than that in Maharashtra, than in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and so on.

Need for a Central watchdog, combining all the medicine systems to work together to come up with amicable solutions to branding problems.

Apologies: The purpose of this article is to throw light on a dangerous problem that needs some fixing. It is not an effort to cause harm to the reputation of any pharmaceutical company or brand. I am sure, any pharmaceutical company would take the best interest of the patient while branding their medicines, and hence would take the necessary corrective measures.

One Medicine Name With Different Indications