Neuroscience-based Nomenclature (NbN)

The Neuroscience-based Nomenclature (NbN) is a global collaboration, led by ECNP, to address a longstanding issue in the development and application of medications for disorders of the brain: the lack of a meaningful connection between the nomenclature of the drugs used and the underlying neuroscience of these compounds.

Bringing together leading experts from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP), the Asian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (AsCNP), and the International Union of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR), the Neuroscience-based Nomenclature (NbN) project has developed a new nomenclature for psychotropic medications.

Continuously updated to reflect the latest insights in neuroscience, the NbN is designed to equip clinicians with a state-of-the-art tool that, by foregrounding pharmacology and mode of action, can help them improve their prescribing choices and enhance their patient engagement.

The NbN Mission

Provide a pharmacologically driven rather than indication-based nomenclature that embeds contemporary neuroscience understanding of how medicines act.

• Enrich our vocabulary vis-à-vis psychotropics and expand our tool box by pointing out the relevant mechanism via pharmacology and mode of action.
• Help clinicians to make informed choices when trying to determine the next ‘pharmacological step.’
• Decrease stigma and enhance adherence with a naming system that lays out the rationale for selecting a specific psychotropic.

Visit the NbN website