A pill by any other name would taste as bitter -- but would it sell? Did you ever wonder at the bizarre brand names born by your favorite medicines? If so, you’ve probably guessed brand-name rule No. 1: They don’t actually mean anything. How and why drugs get their names is the subject of an inside look by pharmacist Jeanette Y. Wick, MBA, of the National Cancer Institute. “FDA staff members disallow names that imply efficacy,” Wick notes. “Simply put, the name shouldn’t mean anything.”
