title: Why is it called that? tongue-twisting taxonomy.
abstract: Most pharmaceuticals have a number of names throughout their lives. Chemical names are often supplanted with trivial (common) names. Then, drug innovators apply to the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council for a generic name, and if the pharmaceutical looks promising, the innovator will begin selecting a brand or proprietary name. Throughout this process, the Food and Drug Administration is involved and is vigilant in its attempts to reduce the potential for name confusion. Additionally, there are global considerations, since many drugs will eventually be approved and used in many of the 130 countries in the world. Selecting generic names is a highly structured process that relies on a distinct system of prefixes, suffixes, and stems. Selecting proprietary names is an exercise in creative marketing that can be quite costly.
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Jeannette Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Wick
mesh_terms: D002965:Classification; D016568:Drugs, Generic; D006801:Humans; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration
chemical_list: D016568:Drugs, Generic; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations