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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Monday, 08 October 2007 |
 An interesting article by USA today talks about the art of finding a name for a drug. Although these drug names looks like someone dropped Scrabble tiles randomly on a
table, it is in fact carefully thought out and crafted by drug-brand consulting firms.
According to the article here, in the past decade, the drug-brand consulting industry has
grown dramatically to help companies find the right name for a new drug.
The
price often runs $200,000 to $500,000 per product. The right name can give a
drug cachet. The wrong name can lead to serious medical errors.
Then there's the challenge of finding a unique name. More than 30,000
prescription drugs are trademarked in the United States; nearly 150,000 in
Europe.
William Trombetta, professor of pharmaceutical marketing at St. Joseph's
University in Philadelphia, said
A lot of it is more art than science. There are certain letters that express power and control, like Z, M or P. Other
letters, like S, are more passive. Depending on what the drug does, you want to
give the name certain features. A good example of a drug name is Viagra. Viagra, the erectile-dysfunction drug made by Pfizer, uses the
prefix "vi" to suggest vigor and vitality. The word rhymes with Niagara,
suggesting a mighty flow.
Click here to read more of the fascinating stories of drug names and how they choose a name to be trademarked from USA today.
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