Every Drug has 2 Names

From antibiotics to chemotherapy, every drug has a brand name and a generic name. For the patient, this can be confusing, especially when trying to research a treatment,  which is essential in developing better questions, and essential        in Shared Decision-Making with physicians.  If we are going to ‘share the decision,’ we must share the language and share the information. Sometimes research is harder than it should be for the patient or caregiver.

The chart to the right is a tool you can use to help recognize both names of a treatment or  drug as you are doing research.  This list is not all-inclusive, but hopefully illustrates an important issue in your cancer research, which is that every drug has 2 names (and even a third name in its earlier clinical  trial days). 
So don’t let this confuse you – look for both names, the generic name and the brand name.

Don’t be discouraged if you ‘Google’ one name, and find the other.

As always, continue to research your ideas and questions before you ask your physicians or nurses. A researched question is a better question, and a better question always gets you a better answer.  
FOR MOST TREATMENTS  & DRUGS USED IN BPH & PROSTATE CANCER PLEASE SEE THE CHART ABOVE.