Pharmaceutical and Medical Translation

SPECIALIZED TRANSLATION

High-quality pharmaceutical translation requires the expert knowledge of doctors, pharmacists, and biologists practising in the given field and, related to this, a high level of language knowledge.  This is why we are cautious of translator applicants who, as economists or mechanical engineers, also mark pharmaceutical translation as their special field.

Our pharmaceutical translations are made in compliance with the suggestions of the European Union, the quality assurance requirements of EMEA /European Medicines Agency/, and by using the "Standard Terms" in Hungarian.
If somebody wants to put a medicine or medicinal product of foreign origin into circulation in Hungary today, he/she has to have the given product’s instructions for use, information for patients, and label text translated and submit them for licensing to the National Institute of Pharmacy.

Serious form and content requirements are set forth with regard to these accompanying documents. Let us take a look at some of the most important ones:

Ensuring maximum accuracy of translation is an essential criterion.

Uniform spelling in the accompanying documents: e.g. in the instruction for use, both ‘hypertonia’ and ‘hipertónia’ are acceptable, but the two different manners of spelling should not mix within one document. In medicine information for patients, however, besides the Hungarian expression for high blood pressure (magas vérnyomás), only the phonetically written Latin form (hipertónia) can be applied, if absolutely necessary.

In the case of technical words and terms, it is expedient to apply the Latin way of spelling, but one should always consider whether or not the given word or term has become integrated into Hungarian terminology with the Hungarian way of spelling (e.g. infekció, szívinfarktus, indikáció, kapilláris, mikroflóra, baktérium, vírus).

When dealing with mixed (i.e. Hungarian and foreign) compound words, one should take care not to mix different ways of spelling (e.g. for oedema of the lungs, the Hungarian word ‘tüdőödéma’ should be used, not ‘tüdő-oedema’ or ‘tüdőoedema’). With regard to this, the Medical Spelling Dictionary (Orvosi helyesírási szótár) published by Akadémiai Kiadó contains recommendations that can be well used in practice.

As for active ingredients, the Hungarian phonetic way of spelling is to be applied (e.g. nátrium-klorid, biszakodil, eritromicin).
The governing practice concerning forms of medicines, forms of storage/dosage, and methods of dosage is to use the appropriate Hungarian “Standard Terms” included in the European Union Directives issued on medicine quality and health preservation.

In texts intended for doctor readers (for example, protocol summaries, instructions for use, product descriptions, training materials for medical representatives), the consistent application of the Latin way of spelling is accepted, even in the case of certain technical words that have become commonly used (arteriosclerosis, thrombosis). We spell anatomical, pathological, physiological, histological terms, and the names of pathogens, diseases, surgical procedures, and patent-protected medicines in the Latin way.

We undertake pharmaceutical translations in every field of health care, have the related legal, business, and technical documents translated by our specialized translators, then  have the translations reviewed/proofread with regard to clinical terminology by an expert of the given branch of health care (e.g. a clinical investigation agreement requires a specialized legal translator).
We undertake translations in the following subject areas, among others:
•    lecture materials of scientific conferences,
•    medical articles, announcements, scientific papers to be published in professional journals,
•    medical histories (anamneses), outpatient sheets, final medical reports, medical test results,
•    information on dietary supplements,
•    instructions for surgical instruments and apparatus,
•    descriptions of therapeutic devices,
•    instructions for application, label texts, patient information sheets,
•    OGYI (National Institute of Pharmacy) letters/licenses, ETT (Health Sciences Council) opinions,
•    clinical investigation protocols,
•    patient information sheets and  statements of consent,
•    forms and certificates required by foreign health insurance companies (health insurance funds),
•    websites of private clinics (dental offices, laser eye clinics, plastic surgeons’ offices).
 

OUR REFERENCES

 
Egis Gyógyszergyár ZRt.
agreement on shipping medicine, medicine production process

GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals Kft.
descriptions of medicines, pharmacological articles, contracts

Lilly Hungária Kft.
scientific articles

Omikron Kft.
medical measuring instruments  

Osram Kft.
medical measuring instruments  

OTP Egészségpénztár
material on health insurance

Pfizer Kft.
product descriptions, pharmacological articles

Pharma Marketing Group Kft.
marketing materials on medical products

Pharma Nord Kft.
medical and scientific articles

Sanofi-Synthelabo Rt.
patient information sheets, translation of articles

Schering-Plough Hungary Kft.
patient information sheets, scientific articles,

Siemens zRt.
descriptions of surgical instruments, contracts

Teva Gyógyszergyár Zártkörűen Működő Rt.
information on medicines, training materials, patient information sheets