Are generic drug names different for each country or the same?

Question

If they are different does anyone know a good website site to find generic drug names for Australia as I only have U.K , Philippines and USA resource books a/v here.

Answer 1

Generic names are the same everywhere.

Answer 2

generic names are just that.... generic ..the same everywhere . The generic name is the name given to it by the inventors of the drug.The difference comes in the trade name. They are called different names by different manufacturers in diff contries. so if you know the generic name any pharmacist in the world can tell you the trade name of the drug in that country

Answer 3

a generic name is the chemical name of the drug, I would think that if it was chemically the same in France as it was in the UK as it was in the US it would be called the same thing generically. They may all have different Brand names though....

the link is to a reference of the Australian National Formulary of drugs...

Answer 4

Generics are not always the same: acetaminophen (in the US) is called paracetamol and APAP (N-acetyl-p-aminophenol) in other markets. "Official" generic names are at the discretion of the individual countries' regulatory agencies. Generic names are neither brand names nor chemical names, usually (although APAP is an exception).

For US drug info, see:
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/apap_ids.htm