How to Identify the Name of a Drug Manufacturer by the Pill's Imprint
It is important that you identify a pill's manufacturer in the event of a recall or other unhealthy reason. Many manufacturers offer brand name and generic drugs, and all of these pills might treat or cure the same disease or condition. However, if one manufacturer recalls its drug, that does not mean that all other similar drugs are affected. If you need to positively identify a pill, look up the imprint using an online pharmaceutical database.
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Instructions
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Open an Internet browser window and navigate to Drugsite Trust's "Pill Identification Wizard" Web page on "Drugs.com" (see Resources).
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Click the "I Agree" button after reading the terms.
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Type in the letters and numbers from the pill in the blank field labeled "Imprint." For example, the imprint for the drug "Ibuprofen" is "IP 466."
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Click the "Search" button.
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Scroll down to the section labeled "Images" and verify that the imprint on the pill in the picture matches the pill of interest. For Ibuprofen the picture section is labeled "Ibuprofen Images."
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Look at the information to the right of the picture to find the section labeled "Manufacturer" and next to that will show the company's name. For Ibuprofen, with the imprint of "IP 466," the manufacturer is "Amneal Pharmaceuticals."
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Tips & Warnings
Also, ask a pharmacist of doctor for help with identifying the pill's imprint.
The National Institutes of Health's "National Library of Medicine" offers two pill imprint search databases within the NIH.gov Internet domain, "Pillbox (beta)" and "DailyMed"; however, warning messages on the Web pages indicate that the databases are in testing stages or incomplete, respectively.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit pill image by alimat from Fotolia.com
