PIL (Patient Information Leaflet)
The plain-language, patient-facing counterpart to a drug's Prescribing Information.
A PIL is the plain-language document written directly for the patient, covering the same core ground as the PI (what the drug treats, how to take it, what side effects to watch for) but in lay terms instead of clinical ones. In the EU, the PIL is a formal requirement for every authorized medicine and has to follow the layout set by the QRD template. In the US, the equivalent patient-facing document usually goes by a different name, a Medication Guide or Patient Package Insert, though "PIL" still gets used informally across both markets.
The distinction matters for content work because a PIL and a PI aren't interchangeable drafts of the same information. A PIL has its own readability and tone requirements, closer to DTC content than to HCP-facing material, and it typically moves through its own review and approval path even though it describes the same drug.