Drug nomenclature

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Drug nomenclature
Regulation of therapeutic
goods in the United States
Prescription drugs
Over-the-counter drugs
Drug nomenclature is the act of creating names for a drug or other pharmaceutical substance. Drugs, in the majority
of circumstances, have 3 names: the chemical name, the International Nonproprietary Name (INN, also known as the
generic or nonproprietary name), and the brand name.
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The generic name is constructed out of affixes that classify
the drugs into different categories and also separate drugs within categories.
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A marketed drug might also have a
company code or compound code.
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Types
The chemical name is the scientific name, based on the molecular structure of the drug. These names are typically
very long and too complex to be commonly used in referring to a drug.
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When a drug is approved by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), it is given a generic name, or United States Adopted Name (USAN), the shorthand
version of the chemical name.
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The pharmaceutical company then gives it a brand name, what the drug is sold as.
For example, Lipitor is the brand name of a cholesterol lowering medication made by Pfizer. Very rarely, a company
that is developing a drug might give the drug a company code,
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which is used by people within the company to
identify the drug while it is in development. For example, CDP870 is UCBs company code for Cimzia.
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Sample of different drug names
Chemical Name Generic Name Brand
Name
N-acetyl-p-aminophenol Acetaminophen Tylenol
(RS)-2-(4-(2-methylpropyl)phenyl)propanoic acid Ibuprofen Motrin
(2R,3S,4R,5R,8R,10R,11R,12S,13S,14R)-13-[(2,6-dideoxy-3-C-methyl-3-O-methyl--L-ribo-hexopyranosyl)oxy]-2-ethyl-3,4,10-trihydroxy-3,5,6,8,10,12,14-heptamethyl-11-[[3,4,6-trideoxy-3-(dimethylamino)--D-xylo-hexopyranosyl]oxy]-1-oxa-6-azacyclopentadecan-15-one Azithromycin Zithromax
ethyl 4-(8-chloro-5,6-dihydro-11H-benzo[5,6]cyclohepta[1,2-b]pyridin-11-ylidene) -1-piperidinecarboxylate Loratadine Claritin
2-acetoxybenzoic acid Aspirin Aspirin
3-(2-methoxyphenoxy)propane-1,2-diol Guaifenesin Mucinex
Drug nomenclature
2
2-(Diphenylmethoxy)-N,N-dimethylethylamine hydrochloride DiphenhydramineBenadryl
3-[(4,5-Dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)methyl]-6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-2,4-dimethyl-phenol hydrochloride Oxymetazoline Visine
(3R,5R)-7-[2-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-phenyl-4-(phenylcarbamoyl)-5-propan-2-ylpyrrol-1-yl]-3,5-dihydroxyheptanoic acid Atorvastatin Lipitor
4,5-epoxy-3-methoxy-17-methylmorphinan-6-one tartrate (1:1) hydrate (2:5) Acetaminophen
and
Hydrocodone
Vicodin
Generic names and affixes
Internationally, generic names, known as the International Nonproprietary Name, are issued by the World Health
Organization (WHO) in several languages, including English. Drugs that are marketed in the Unites States are
further assigned generic names, officially known as the United States Adopted Name (USAN), by the USAN
Council. Likewise, drugs are assigned a British Approved Name (BAN) in Great Britain by the British
Pharmacopoeia, a standard followed in many other countries. While efforts are made to coordinate these various
standards, differences may arise. For example, the drug with generic USAN acetaminophen is the same chemical
N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)acetamide as the drug that has BAN and INN paracetamol.
Generic names are used for a variety of reasons. They provide a clear and unique identifier for active chemical
substances, appearing on all drug labels, advertising and other information about the substance. They are used in
New Drug Applications for the US Food and Drug Administration, in scientific descriptions of the chemical, in
discussions of the chemical in the scientific literature and descriptions of clinical trials.
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The prefixes and infixes
have no pharmacological significance and are used to separate the drug from others in the same class. Suffixes or
stems may be found in the middle or more often the end of the drug name, and normally suggest the action of the
drug. Generic names often have suffixes that define what class the drug is.
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Standardized drug suffixes
Stem Drug class Example
-vir
Antiviral drug
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Indinavir
-cillin Antibiotics
Penicillin and related compounds such as carbenicillin and oxacillin
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-mab
Monoclonal antibodies
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Trastuzumab, used in chemotherapy
-ximab
Chimeric antibody that responds to more than one antigen
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Infliximab
-zumab
humanized antibody
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Natalizumab
-nib
Epidermal growth factor receptor
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Erlotinib
-vastatin
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor
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Atorvastatin
-prazole
Proton-pump inhibitor
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Omeprazole
-lukast
Leukotriene receptor antagonists
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Montelukast
-grel
Coagulation inhibitor
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Clopidogrel
-axine
Dopamine and serotoninnorepinephrine reuptake inhibitor
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Venlafaxine
-oxetine
Antidepressant related to fluoxetine
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Duloxetine
-sartan
Angiotensin receptor antagonists
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Valsartan
-oxacin Quinolone-derived antibiotics Levofloxacin
Drug nomenclature
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Breaking down a drug name
Solanezumab, a drug for memory loss, is manufactured by Eli Lilly. If we were to break down solanezumab, it
would be divided into two parts like this: solane-zumab. -Zumab is the suffix for humanized monoclonal antibody.
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Monoclonal antibodies by definition contain only a single antibody clone and have binding specificity for one
particular epitope{7}. In the case of solanezumab, the antibody is designed to bond to the amyloid- peptides which
make up protein plaques on the neurons of people with Alzheimer's disease. These plaques keep neurons from
communicating, so the antibody is designed to destroy them.
[citation needed]
References
{http:/ / www. piercenet. com/ browse. cfm?fldID=4E018AA6-5056-8A76-4E57-3BC84C88A328}
Article Sources and Contributors
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Article Sources and Contributors
Drug nomenclature Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=541894931 Contributors: Andrewman327, Bgwhite, Jo3sampl, Lambiam, MatthewVanitas, Rjwilmsi, Rohit Narayanan,
WLU, Whoisjohngalt, 17 anonymous edits
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
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en:User:Sponge
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