Why do drugs/medicines have such difficult names?

Question

And what’s the creative process behind coming up with such names?

In: 13

Answer 1

You might be surprised to learn that millions of dollars go into pharmaceutical research. Even when creating medicine for a minor disorder, the amount of research and development and testing (mouse, pig, human trials, etc…) Is staggering. Add to this the patent rights which will allow the company to profit for a set amount of time. Coming up with a unique and memorable drug name to patent, along with graphics and marketing are all part of the process.

Now if you’re not talking about the trade name, but the chemical name, well that gets into organic chemistry naming conventions: (2,4,6 Trimethyl Phenol)

In countries that allow euthanasia, patented medicine names such as: *”Damitol”*, or even *’Fuqitol”* have been suggested, probably as a joke.