Buying the Wrong Medicine Overseas explains that sometimes different drugs in different countries share the same name:
A safety alert issued to hospitals and doctors this year by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a nonprofit group, identified several drugs in the U.S. that have the same name as very different drugs sold by different manufacturers in European countries. For instance, Norpramin, which is an antidepressant in the U.S., is the name of an ulcer drug in Spain. Flomax for prostate disease has the same name as a pain medication in Italy. And Vivelle, which in the U.S. is a hormone treatment for menopause and osteoporosis, is a birth-control pill in Austria. The group says it has encountered more matches in Asia, South America and elsewhere.In Brazil, for example, the brand name Dilacor refers to verapamil for irregular heart rhythm and hypertension. But in the U.S., Dilacor is a blood-pressure drug known generically as diltiazem. And in Serbia, Dilacor is the brand name for digoxin, used to treat heart failure.