New Delhi The laxness in branding medicines, a common practice for long but with serious implications for public health besides being an unhealthy business practice, might soon end.

A recent health ministry move to bar state drug regulators from granting manufacturing licences on brand names may force companies to queue up before the registrar of trademarks. In the process, several brands resembling popular brands and at times even misrepresenting their contents may get weeded out, too.