To avoid dispensing errors, Takeda changes drug name

DEERFIELD, Ill. A drug made by Takeda Pharmaceuticals for treating heartburn is getting a name change, Takeda announced Thursday.

The Japanese drug maker’s U.S. subsidiary said it would change the brand name of Kapidex (dexlansoprazole) to Dexilant. The drug’s chemical composition and formulation will remain unchanged, and the name change is meant to avoid confusion with similarly named products such as AstraZeneca’s prostate cancer drug Casodex (bicalutamide) and Actavis’ painkiller Kadian (morphine sulfate).

 “Takeda’s first priority is patient safety, which is why we initiated a widespread communications campaign to inform healthcare professionals and pharmacists as soon as we learned about the potential for confusion,” Takeda VP medical and scientific affairs Robert Spanheimer said. “Recently, through discussions with the FDA, we agreed that the best way to minimize these dispensing errors was to change the trade name of dexlansoprazole to Dexilant.”