How to come up with names for medicines: says the expert

When creating a new pharmaceutical product, it is important not only to find and synthesize an active substance, test its effectiveness, find a convenient dosage form, and obtain the necessary documents, but also to come up with a name that consumers will remember and meet all requirements.

Kira Zaslavskaya, Director of New products at Promomed Group, shared the secrets of pharmaming (that is, choosing a name for a pharmaceutical product, from the English name name) with the editorial board of Pharmedprom.

Are there standards for selecting names for medicines?

A medicine can have one, two, or even three names.

-International Nonproprietary Name (INN). This is the unique name of the most active substance of the drug, recommended by WHO. INN is a public property that is necessary so that specialists can determine which pharmaceutical substance underlies a medicine, regardless of what the medicine is called.

- Chemical name. It reflects and describes in detail the structure (formula) the active active substance. This name is given according to the "chemical principles", the so-called IUPAC nomenclature, the system of naming chemical compounds and describing the science of chemistry in general. The chemical name may match the INN (for example, ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate) or not (6-fluoro-3-hydroxypyrazine-2-carboxamide for INN favipiravir)
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- Trade name. This is a brand attribute, and it's what we see on the packaging. Most consumers know drugs by their trade names, without being interested in which compound underlies it.

There is no universal standard for the selection of trade names for medicines, different companies select and adapt various tools for themselves. However, the manufacturer must take into account a number of recommendations and requirements when choosing a successful registered name, because the name should emphasize the uniqueness of the product.

In addition, the invented name must be registered as a trademark – after passing this procedure, the company acquires the exclusive right to use the name, as evidenced by the ® mark that is placed on the packaging.

The basic principles of choosing the name of a medicinal product are quite simple. The name should:

• Be concise and easy to pronounce;
• differ from the names of medicines with a different active ingredient;
• comply with the principles of humanity and morality;
• do not include structural elements that are INN or its components;
• do not describe the drug as unique or the safest.;
• do not reproduce the name of diseases or symptoms;
• do not point to cultural heritage sites.

In Russia, there is a regulatory framework that regulates both the process of choosing names for medicines and the future fate of these names:

• Federal Law of the Russian Federation "On Medicines" No. 86-FZ dated 06/22/1998;
• methodological recommendations on the rational choice of names of medicines, approved by Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation V.I. Starodubov on October 10, 2005;
• Guidelines for the selection of trade names of medicines Recommended by the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission dated 29.01.2019;
• Chapter IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

How do you choose an INN and a trade name?

The INN is chosen by the experts of the World Health Organization after the pharmaceutical company sends an official request. In principle, this name is assigned only to single, clearly defined substances that can be uniquely characterized by a chemical formula.

In the event that the drug is based on not one, but several substances, then a unique name is not invented, but the documentation lists the innumerable components that are included in the composition. INN are not suitable for substances of plant origin and for homeopathic medicines.

Substances that have long been used for medical purposes under traditional, commonly used names, such as morphine or acetic acid, are also not assigned an INN.

INN cannot be registered as a trademark, i.e. the exclusive right to such a name cannot be assigned to one specific copyright holder. However, there are still several such drugs on the market. One example is a drug under the trade name "Akatinol memantine", the trade name of which includes the word "memantine", which is also the name of the active substance.

But this is really a rare exception, not the rule. Now it is controlled much more strictly, nFor example, the name "Amlox" was not accepted for registration of the drug with the active ingredient "amiodarone". This is due to the fact that the particle "amlo-" traditionally refers to the names of drugs with the INN amlodipine (for example, "Amlovas" and "Amlodyl").

An important property of INN is uniqueness. This name should be such that one medicine cannot be confused with another.

Another feature of the INN system that needs to be paid attention to is that the names of substances that are close from the point of view of pharmacology often use a common basis. For example, "vir" is often present in the INN of antiviral drugs: umifenovir, favipiravir. This helps to understand that this substance belongs to a group of substances with similar pharmacological activity.

It may seem that using INN as trade names (but not vice versa) could make it easier for specialists to understand which group the drug belongs to and, accordingly, simplify its administration.
But often INNES, especially for new original drugs, are difficult to perceive and remember, so convenient trade names that evoke vivid associations come to the rescue.
So, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we assigned trade names to our company's antiviral drugs without waiting for trademark registration.
Doctors and patients did not have to memorize the difficult–to-pronounce innes molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir+ritonavir, instead they were waiting for the drugs "Esperavir" and "Skyvira" - the names that are much easier to deal with.

What principles are used when selecting names? Are there any letters or syllables that are better not to use in Russian and Latin spelling?

Methodological recommendations on the rational choice of names of medicines The documents approved by the Ministry of Health and Social Development answer this question in some detail. They list the elements of words and phrases available for use: suffixes, postfixes, and abbreviations.

There is no list of prohibited letters or words in the names of medicines, but it is necessary to carefully consider the inclusion in the names of certain elements formed from the names of active substances or describing the therapeutic effect and the area of effect of the drug in order to avoid providing false information. For example, if you choose a name for a cough medicine, then you should abandon the options "Diaron" or "Anesthesiol", since the former will be associated with diarrhea, and the latter with pain relief, but not with a medicine that can stop coughing.

The individual name of a newly created drug often reflects its chemical composition or physiological effect. So, in the name of "Asparkam", a popular antiarthymic, MANY of its components are "encrypted"— aspar aginate potassium and magnesium, and the antispasmodic "No-shpa" is so named because it relieves cramps (no spa sm). But to a greater extent, the names are aimed at evoking associations related to the drug, its effect, and the achievement of consumer goals.

When studying the naming of medicines, one often remembers how the same consulting company first came up with a name for the blockbuster "Viagra" (an association with the vigour force and the powerful Niagara Falls), and then created a more "soft" name reflecting intimacy and convenience for their competitor "Cialis".

It is important to remember that the name should primarily help consumers and specialists to understand the purpose of the drug and not mislead them. For example, it is obvious that "Gastrofarm" is a remedy "for the stomach", since in its name there is a particle gastro–, which is used to denote the connection of concepts with the stomach and digestion.

Who comes up with the names?

Choosing a suitable protectable (i.e., one that can be registered as a trademark) and memorable name is one of the important tasks when launching a drug on the market, which is successfully handled by experienced marketers or neumers.

In Russia, you can use the services of private namers or naming agencies that take on turnkey work to develop a brand portfolio. But the experience of our company shows that the joint work of internal marketers, doctors and trademark specialists leads, in most cases, to better results.

What should be considered if the drug is to be marketed on a foreign market?

During localization, all aspects should be evaluated by specialists from the country in which the medicine is planned to be sold. This will allow us to take into account all national peculiarities. Special attention should be paid to the euphony of the chosen name in the local language. the market and the absence of unpleasant associations in the national language. In such a situation, resorting to the services of a naming agency may be more justified.

How many names are usually thought up before "the one" is found?

A lot depends on choosing the right name. In order to make the right choice, a team of marketers, doctors, specialists involved in the registration of medicines, as well as experts in the field of intellectual property is working on branding.

Several dozen candidate names can be invented for a single drug. They undergo a series of expert assessments and a vote by the designated focus group, because naming is a very subjective thing and the group's vote on this issue is considered more effective. The "winning" name is submitted for registration as a trademark.

Not all applications are completed by obtaining a trademark, and therefore several top options can be submitted for registration in order to make a final decision based on the results of this process.

Are there any unsuccessful failed titles?

Of the unsuccessful and unprocessed names, no longer from the pharmaceutical field, we can recall the history of Coca-Cola brand promotion in the Chinese market, when, after the start of product promotion, it turned out that in the Taiwanese dialect the brand name means "bite the tadpole". And the name was changed to Kekoukele ("happiness in the mouth").

In the pharmaceutical industry, such examples are not so common, we try to learn from the mistakes of our colleagues from other industries.

Which names do you consider particularly successful?

There are several fairly successful options on the domestic market. For example, the name "Complivit", which speaks for itself, can be roughly divided into the words "complex" of "vitamins". Perhaps the simple and easy-to-remember name contributed to the drug's entry into the bestseller list on the Russian pharmaceutical market.

The equally well–known name "TeraFlu" consists of the particle "tera", a prefix for decimal multiples (one multiplied by a trillion), and the particle "flu", which in English means "cold, flu". A medicine bearing this name is perceived by consumers as a remedy for an unlimited number of types of colds, as well as a remedy for colds of unlimited strength.

The name of the weight loss drug "Reduxin", which is in the pharmaceutical portfolio of our company, has become popular and well-known due to its conciseness and associativity, as it comes from the English word reduce "to reduce, reduce, reduce". In my subjective opinion, the name of our Brainmax medicine, designed to improve brain function, also speaks for itself and is understandable to consumers and specialists. In general, the success of a drug depends more not on its name, but on its quality, effectiveness, tolerability, and ease of use. And that's what we think about first when developing new products.,

Interviewed by Ksenia Skrypnik

A source: pharmmedprom.ru

1. https://pharmmedprom.ru/articles/kak-pridumivayut-nazvaniya-dlya-lekarstv-rasskazivaet-ekspert/