MEXICO Law and Practice Contributed by: Adriana Ibarra, Carla Calderón, Marina Hurtado Cruz and José Hoyos-Robles, Baker McKenzie
• For the private market, the first rule is that prescribing according to the active ingredient or generic name is mandatory, and that the use of the distinctive name or trade mark of the product is optional for health profession- als. The second and perhaps most important rule is that if the prescription contains only the generic name, pharmacists are allowed to substitute the product. Conversely, if the product is prescribed under its distinctive name, then substitution at the point of sale is forbidden.
• For the public market, although the basic rule structure is the same, there is no refer- ence to the option of prescribing by trade mark – meaning that substitution is always allowed. At the same time, it has also been a long-held practice in the public sector to pre- scribe using the product code allocated in the national compendium, which is based on the active ingredient as well. There are provisions allowing prescriptions to be made under dif- ferent conditions, but the respective institu- tion would need to authorise such decisions, which is not common.
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