International Nonproprietary Names (INN) identify pharmaceutical substances or active pharmaceutical ingredients. Each INN is a unique name that is globally recognized and is public property. A nonproprietary name is also known as a generic name.

This edition consolidates the International Nonproprietary Names (INN) for pharmaceutical substances published in Cumulative List No. 15 2013 and Lists 110 to 113 of proposed INN published since that time. It incorporates 9126 INN for individual pharmaceutical substances.

The Cumulative List groups together all INN in Latin, English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian published up to November 2015 together with references to the lists of proposed and recommended INN in which they have been published. It also includes references to other generic names such as national nonproprietary names and names used by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), pharmacopoeial monographs, the List of Narcotic Drugs under International Control, and other sources. National nonproprietary names differing from the INN are cross-referenced to the corresponding INN. In addition, the list contains molecular formulae and the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry numbers. Since the publication of Cumulative List No.15 some 326 INN have been selected as proposed INN and 314 have been published as recommended INN.

Nonproprietary names are intended for use in pharmacopoeias, labeling, product information, advertising, and other promotional material, drug regulation and scientific literature, and as a basis for product names e.g. for generics. Their use is normally required by national or--as in the case of the European Community--by international legislation. As a result of ongoing collaboration, national names such as British Approved Names (BAN), D nominations communes fran aises (DCF), Japanese Adopted Names (JAN), and United States Accepted Names (USAN) are nowadays--with rare exceptions--identical to the INN.