how do they decide the name and generic name of medications?
In: Other
The “retail” names of the medications are decided largely by the marketing department. Few of the aspects (amongst many others) they consider while “designing” the name are –
a. Active Ingredient / Chemical name
b. Ailment applicable for
c. Marketability of the name (ease of usage by the target audience)
d. Meaning of the word being used to signify some advantage / benefit to the consumer
e. Violation of existing trademarks / tradenames
f. Company’s naming practice (some standard way of naming the drugs by that company which creates some sort of a recognition / trademark).
So the marketing department may end up naming a simple painkiller / anti-inflammatory drug like Paracetamol or Acetaminophen using any one or many aspects of the above. Check out this link – [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol_brand_names](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol_brand_names) and you will be surprised that some names sound quite “out of the box” and some are easily traceable to above rules.
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