Product names, proper claims? More ethical issues in the marketing of drugs.
OBJECTIVE
To analyse the explicit or implicit claims embodied in the proprietary names of pharmaceutical products.


METHODS
Linguistic and ethical analysis of proprietary names of pharmaceutical products marketed in the UK and in Denmark.


CONCLUSIONS
A number of drugs have names that allude to their indication or actions. Such names may be problematic, however, because they often promise more than the drug can deliver. Taking into account, firstly, the type of allusion and its degree of sophistication, and, secondly, the seriousness of the indication may help in identifying the most problematic drug names.
Holm
S
S
Department of Medical Philosophy and Clinical Theory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Evans
M
M
D003718:Denmark; D004345:Drug Industry; D004989:Ethics; D040861:Ethics, Business; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D018570:Risk Assessment; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D006113:United Kingdom
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations