• In India, identical or similar drug names pose serious health risks, as seen with drugs like 'Linamac' used for both cancer and diabetes treatments. 

• Despite decades of complaints from the medical community, lax regulations persist, allowing multiple drugs with the same or similar names to be marketed. 

• The fragmented regulatory system lacks a unified process to ensure unique drug names, leading to frequent medication errors. 

• Activists have called for stricter regulations, similar to those in the U.S. and Europe, but political will is lacking. 

• Recent incidents, such as the fatal cough syrup case in The Gambia, have highlighted these issues and may prompt overdue reforms in India's drug naming practices.

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