Index of medicines for human use

WHO (World Health Organization): Any substance or product that is used or is intended to be used to alter a physiological system or a pathological condition in the recipient's benefit.

Medicinal product: A substance or combination of substances used to treat or prevent disease, to restore, correct or modify physiological functions through pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action, or to make a medical diagnosis.

Active ingredient: A substance used in a medicine to produce a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic effect that restores, corrects or modifies physiological functions.

Excipients: Ingredients in a medicine other than its active substance. They can help stabilise the medicine or deliver the active substance to its intended site of action.

Original medicine: A medicine first authorised on the basis of a full dossier documenting its quality, safety and efficacy. It may serve as the reference medicine for a generic product.

Generic medicine: A medicine developed to be equivalent to an authorised reference medicine. It contains the same active substance or substances and is used at the same doses to treat the same diseases. Its inactive ingredients, name, appearance and packaging may differ.