How do they come up with names for new medications? Most of them look like someone grabbed a random handful of letter tiles.
A current favorite is Vabysmo, a drug for a type of age-related macular degeneration.
Not sure how they came up with a name that sounds like “abysmal”.
The article mentions how they have word stems to group similar drugs together. Here’s a chart that shows some of the common suffixes. (PDF)
My doctor said that it seems to him that there is a strong preference for generic names that contain the letters X, Y and/or Z.
I remember one called zovirax.
Preferable to Herpekill.
I like Clopidogrel
Elrond’s cousin?
That is for the generic drug name - is the OP referring to the brand name? The advertised drugs usually have Brand name (generic name), e.g.: Nucala (mepolizumab), Wegovy pill (semaglutide).
They sound more Greek, and therefore scientifical.
The article indicates that the trade name is chosen by the drug company that develops it.
Brings to mind the possibly NSFW generic Viagra called micoxaflopin.
I remember when the launch of Cialis was delayed because some people with the surname Cialis sued the drug company, because they wanted the drug’s name changed. They obviously lost.
Drug companies have also rejected names for reasons like finding out that it’s a dirty word in another language.
They generally prefer the generic name to be hard to pronounce and remember, so that more people refer to it by the (protectable) brand name.
I don’t think either name helps.
Mispronounced Medication Names
Brilliant!
The generic name usually, but not always, gives an indication as to what the drug consists of (prefix), and what it treats (suffix). I’m no expert, but I did work as a technical writer for a generic drug manufacturer, writing master formulae. Yep, I know how to make drugs.
For example, anything ending in “-am” or “-pam” is typically a tranquilizer: Diazapam (Valium), Lorazepam (Ativan), Alprazolam (Xanax). All are benzodiazapines. The “diaz” or “az” plus “am” or “pam” tells me that this is an ammonia coumpound designed to tranquilize.
Anything that ends in “-cillin” is an infection fighter: penicillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin.
I don’t know what to make of semaglutide (Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy), and I really don’t know what to make of sildenafil (Viagra). Anyway, our lunchroom table at that job was a bunch of chemical engineers and me. I learned a lot—until we started talking sports. Hey, it was lunchtime, after all, and in spite of my questions, the guys didn’t always want to talk work when we were on lunch.
Hey, that’s the drug that I work on!