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MedNet INN services

The WHO MedNet offers on-line information services related to INNs which are free of charge to its members. 

As a Member of MedNet INN, you will be able to search the INN database for INN names, for names published on recommended or proposed lists, and display the equivalent of the Latin INN name in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian. You will also be informed about any existing national names, ATC codes if assigned to INNs and the basic chemical information. The INN Status query allows for tracking the status of INNs within the INN process.

For further information and how access these services, please contact the WHO INN programme

About INNs

International Nonproprietary Names or INNs are selected in close collaboration with national nomenclature commissions (e.g. BAN, DCF, DCIt, JAN , USAN, etc.). The INN Programme assigns International Nonproprietary Names to medicinal substances through a broad consultative process. Instances where a national nonproprietary name for a new pharmaceutical substance is different from the INN are rare exceptions.

As unique names, INNs have to be distinctive in sound and spelling, and should not be liable to confusion with other names in common use (e.g. trade marks). To make INNs universally available they are formally placed by WHO in the public domain, hence their designation as nonproprietary. They can be used without any restriction whatsoever to identify pharmaceutical substances.