How do they name medicines and drugs?

[Hanish P]

i.e. Vioxx, Lipitor, Nexium, Zoloft, Viagra, etc? Sometimes they have no connection with the actual medicine. Are they developed by a marketing department?

[The Un-Cola]

Yes. A group of ad men get together and think up all the dumb names.

edit: I am not referring to the chemical name but the trade name, and yes the do just make up trade names. The guy below me picked a lousy example and is wrong besides that. Aspirin is Salicylic acid. Aspirin actually is an old trade name.

[earwaxyness]

They have meanings. Usually part of the chemical name of the drug (those big long scientific names). Sometimes they have to do with the class of drugs it fits into or the use of the drug. Brand names (like the ones you mentioned) aren't usually related to the chemical in the drug.

[Jay W]

Actually, drug companies pay huge sums to marketing consulting firms to come up with a cutsey name that somehow reflects the medication function with hope, control, and modernism and all that other stuff. I remember one marketing consultant was paid millions by Intel to come up with the brand name "Pentium." This is pretty much the same thing.

The generic name of the medication is set by the INN, a division of the World Health Organization (WHO). Typically, somebody (either a drug company or researcher) applies for a name for a new drug through the INN, and they establish a common international name, although the US Adopted Name (USAN) may be different.