Throughout The Manual, generic (nonproprietary) names for drugs are used whenever possible. Most prescription drugs have brand names (also called proprietary, trademark [or sometimes mistakenly, trade], or specialty names) to distinguish them as being produced and marketed by a particular manufacturer. In the US, these names are usually registered as trademarks with the Patent Office, which confers certain legal rights with respect to their use. A brand name may be registered for a product containing a single active ingredient (with or without additives) or ≥ 2 active ingredients (combination drugs). A chemical substance marketed by several manufacturers may have several brand names. A drug may be marketed under different brand names in different countries.

Brand names are found in many publications and are used extensively in clinical medicine. For convenience, the following table lists brand names for most drugs mentioned in The Manual, primarily those marketed in the US. The table is not all-inclusive and does not list every brand name for each drug. A few drugs in the table are investigational and may subsequently be approved by the FDA. Inclusion of a drug does not indicate approval of its use for any indication, nor does it imply efficacy or safety of its action. Inclusion of a brand name indicates neither endorsement nor preference by TheManual.