Prescription of drugs by generic name. Disclosure to patient. Labeling

(a) For the purposes of this section, “brand name” means the name the manufacturer places upon a drug or pharmaceutical or on its container, label, or wrapping at the time of packaging; and “generic name” means the chemical name or formula or the established name designated in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, or official National Formulary, or any supplement to any of them. (b) Any physician, surgeon or other person authorized to prescribe drugs within this state, who prescribes a drug, shall in each such prescription, oral or written, include the generic name thereof, if any, unless such physician, surgeon or other person authorized to prescribe drugs, in the exercise of his professional judgment, prescribes a specific brand name drug. The physician, surgeon or other person so authorized shall state to the patient for whom a drug is being prescribed, or to his parent or guardian, the name of the drug or medicine being prescribed, either orally or in writing, and all licensed pharmacists dispensing prescriptions and all health care institutions or facility pharmacies shall label the container containing said medication or prescription with the name as provided by the physician, surgeon or other person so authorized, the strength of each dose prescribed and the date of refill if said prescription is a refill, except if the physician, surgeon or other person so authorized expressly forbids the placing of said drug or medicine name on the prescription label or package. On all prescriptions, whether or not a generic name is stated, the physician, surgeon or other person so authorized shall, if the patient is over the age of sixty-five, include a notation to that effect. (c) It is declared to be the public policy of this state that generic name of drugs be used in prescriptions wherever feasible.