Therapeutic Equivalency – ARB and ACEI

FDA defines the term Therapeutic equivalent to include generically equivalent products, therapeutic interchange or substitution in the hospital setting generally refers to drugs that are not generically identical.

• Therapeutic interchange is defined as the dispensing of a drug that is therapeutically equivalent to but chemically different from the drug originally prescribed.
• Therapeutic substitution strategy occurs without the prior authorization of the initial prescriber. The use should never be accepted unless reviewed and approved by the healthcare team based on the evidence available.

Angiotensin receptors blockers (ARBs) and Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) are of the most common medications that are therapeutically equivalent.