Where do drug names come from?

[opie's twisted balls]

Howdy and Feliz ano nuevo!

How are the marketing names for drugs picked? I guess Lunesta sounds sort of sleepy (almost like siesta) and Lipator is fatty (lipids) but Lisinopril doesn't really conjure up images of a low values on a sphygmomanometer and Celexa doesn't really sound like something that keeps me from slitting my wrists.

Is there any method to the madness in naming drugs or do Pfizer, Novartis, etc. have a room full of monkeys and typewriters just making shit up?

[Dr Steve]

Howdy and Feliz ano nuevo!

How are the marketing names for drugs picked? I guess Lunesta sounds sort of sleepy (almost like siesta) and Lipator is fatty (lipids) but Lisinopril doesn't really conjure up images of a low values on a sphygmomanometer and Celexa doesn't really sound like something that keeps me from slitting my wrists.

Is there any method to the madness in naming drugs or do Pfizer, Novartis, etc. have a room full of monkeys and typewriters just making shit up?

You got me on this one...in the old days, some drug names KIND OF sounded like what they do..."Sonata" kind of sounds like "somnolence" (Sleepiness) and Sonatas as music are kind of soothing.

On the other hand, "Zetia" means nothing and has nothing that I can determine to do with cholesterol (and neither does the drug, as it turns out, but that's another story).

My wife tells me that a new rule in 2010 is that the brand name can not in any way reflect what the drug does, so be prepared for more nonsense drug names like "Blibeepy" and "hudlahudlahudla" in the future. Companies pay millions to marketing people to come up with catchy names.

What I'm more interested in is how they come up with the CHEMICAL names for these drugs. For example, betablockers all end with "olol" or "alol"...Propranolol, Labetalol, Timolol, etc. What about the chemistry prompts the prefixes and suffixes? Apparently it's related to the chemical properties of the molecule but I don't get it. I was an organic chemist's assistant before medical school for awhile and we just named stuff methoxy ethyl benzene and crap like that.

"Your modern drug names frighten me"
--Chemical Cave Man

[Dude!]

Lunesta is easy
Lune = french for moon
combined as you said
with siesta

like a nap in moonlight
how wonderful is that

[Suspect Chin]

You could ask this same question about many trade names.

Pepsi, Apple, etc.

[opie's twisted balls]

You got me on this one...in the old days, some drug names KIND OF sounded like what they do..."Sonata" kind of sounds like "somnolence" (Sleepiness) and Sonatas as music are kind of soothing.
The "old days" comment brought up kind of another question. It must be difficult for doctors and pharmacists to keep track of all the medications, their advertised and off label uses. And add to that the difficulty of pharmacies to keep all this stuff in stock.

My wife tells me that a new rule in 2010 is that the brand name can not in any way reflect what the drug does, so be prepared for more nonsense drug names like "Blibeepy" and "hudlahudlahudla" in the future. Companies pay millions to marketing people to come up with catchy names.
Wonderful. More commercials with happy people on the beach or hiking with background voice over telling us about how their new pill will cure a problem we didn't know we had.....but if we take might become constipated with diarrhea, narcoleptic insomniacs, obese anorexics suffering from tremors, night sweats, random maculopapular rashes and geographic tongue.

Take two aspirins and call your HMO/insurance provider in the morning.

What about the chemistry prompts the prefixes and suffixes? Apparently it's related to the chemical properties of the molecule but I don't get it. I was an organic chemist's assistant before medical school for awhile and we just named stuff methoxy ethyl benzene and crap like that.

Not sure but could it be something related to the legality of a patentable name? If you use the naming conventions of 'ides, 'ates, etc. then maybe you can't get a patent since the name would be considered in the public domain.


like a nap in moonlight
how wonderful is that
Very, now I want my pillow.


.....Pepsi.....
It was first introduced as "Brad's Drink" in New Bern, North Carolina in 1898 by Caleb Bradham, who made it at his pharmacy where the drink was sold. It was later named Pepsi Cola, possibly due to the digestive enzyme pepsin and kola nuts used in the recipe. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi)
Ehhh.....call it Brad's Drink or Pepsi I'll still take a coke

[zildjian361]

prednizone keeps me ALIVE

[Fatwreck86]

im dumb

[opie's twisted balls]

prednizone keeps me ALIVE
I'm sorry to hear that. I've only had to take prednizone once (granted at a stupidly high dose) and the side effects were brutal.


im dumb
There's a pill for that Algernon

[Chigworthy]

I'm sorry to hear that. I've only had to take prednizone once (granted at a stupidly high dose) and the side effects were brutal.



There's a pill for that Algernon

Algernon was the mouse. Charlie was the guy. Wow, you really came off like an ACIPHEX®.

[PapaBear]

I thought Celebrex was a good name. The old ads showed old people taking it, then jumping around all happy like.

[Ritalin]

I like my name.

[DJEvelEd]

Aspirin (assburn) upsets my tummy and sometimes hurts my butt coming out however, Valiyum is yummy.

Androgel is a testosterone gel is for people with low testosterone. Sounds like androgynous meaning having both male & female characteristics.

Chorionic GONADotropin is taken with testosterone to stop the testicles from shrinking (which happens to alot of "juicers")

Buster Gonad is a cartoon character who carries his gonads around in a wheelbarrow.
http://www.raf.mod.uk/gulf/h_images/buster.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qNUQPXYIsrE/So-ITM2oluI/AAAAAAAAALM/OeTOXv04Ta4/s640/buster.jpg

[opie's twisted balls]

Algernon was the mouse. Charlie was the guy. Wow, you really came off like an ACIPHEX®.
Ya, no kidding it was the mouse. :dry:

[Dr Steve]

Algernon was the mouse. Charlie was the guy. Wow, you really came off like an ACIPHEX®.


but they made Algernon smart, too, didn't they? that's how they new Charly was going to revert, because the mouse did first. So perhaps OTB was making a mouse joke AND a dumb joke at the same time. Who knows?

[opie's twisted balls]

but they made Algernon smart, too, didn't they? that's how they new Charly was going to revert, because the mouse did first. So perhaps OTB was making a mouse joke AND a dumb joke at the same time. Who knows?
The mouse did follow the dumb/smart/dumb route first and yes they and Charlie knew he was going to go down the same path. I wasn't making a mouse joke so much as trying not to be so vague and no one getting my lame reference. Had I said "Charlie" who knows....Charlie Sheen, Charlie Parker, Charlie Pace, Charlie Chaplin, Charlie Brown, Charlie Bucket, Charlie Daniels, Charlie Jones, Charlie Wilson or Charlie Don't Surf.

[Coach]

and didn't the mouse die?