A
British Approved Name (
BAN) is the official non-proprietary or generic name given to a
pharmaceutical substance, as defined in the
British Pharmacopoeia (BP).
The BAN is also the official name used in some countries across the world, because starting in 1953, proposed new names were evaluated by a panel of experts from
WHO in conjunction with the BP commission to ensure naming consistency worldwide (an effort leading to the
International Nonproprietary Name system).