The Institute for Safe Medication Practices recently issued a warning about the names of three pairs of drugs, and the potential that both doctors and pharmacists could accidentally dispense one in place of the other. Prescribing errors often occur because of doctors' poor handwriting, as well as confusing drug names. Sometimes such errors can prove fatal because of an allergy to the dispensed medication or an adverse drug interaction.

The institute said that medical professionals can easily confuse the diabetes drugs Lantus and Lente. The two drugs, while similar, act with different speeds and durations. The institute knows of only one mix-up associated with these drugs.

The institute reports seventeen errors involving the psychiatric drugs Serzone and Seroquel, and attributes the errors to the similarity of the drugs' names. Finally, the institute is concerned that healthcare workers may confuse Avandia and Coumadin. While these names do not appear similar at first glance, institute researchers believe they look alike when written by those with poor handwriting.