A designation for any compound used as a drug that is not protected as an intellectual property. This name is negotiated by the compound’s manufacturers as well as a council sponsored jointly by the American Medical Association, American Pharmaceutical Association, and United States Pharmacopeial Convention.  The USAN Programme claims that its objective is to select simple, informative, and unique nonproprietary names (also called generic names) for drugs by establishing logical classifications based on pharmacological and/or chemical relationships.

See also:
Generic medicine
Generic name 
American Medical Association (AMA)