Why do so many modern drugs have names that end in “umab”?

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What does it mean?

In: Chemistry

13 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The names indicate what kind of drug it is (to doctors and pharmacists who know the naming rules).

-mab is for monoclonal antibody drugs

-caine for local anesthetics eg benzocaine, lanacaine

-etine is for SSRIs (type of antidepressants) eg fluoxetine

-afil for erectile dysfunction meds eg sildenafil (Viagra)

-feb and -fene for estrogen response modifiers eg tamoxifen

etc. etc.

You can search “drug naming rules” or “pharmacological suffixes” to get big lists of these and what they all mean.

https://accesspharmacy.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=1549&sectionid=93411751

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