28 November 2016 - The TGA is updating some medicine ingredient names used in Australia to align with names used internationally. 

This has been done by some other countries over the years, including the United Kingdom in 2003 and New Zealand in 2008.

The four year transition period for these changes has started and will end in April 2020.

Some changes are minor, for example changing a 'y' to an 'i', and will not affect how the ingredient name is pronounced.

Some changes are more significant. For these products, medicine labels will need to use both the old and new ingredient name for an additional three years after the end of the transition period (until 2023) to help consumers and healthcare professionals become familiar with the new name.

For example, medicines containing lignocaine will need to be dual labelled as 'lidocaine (lignocaine)'.

Read TGA news article