MILAN – We bet you would never have thought of it: the name of Viagra, the blue pill of love, suggests vigor and virility and evokes the roaring jet of Niagara Falls. Its direct antagonist, Cialis, refers to the French sky (sky). A few more examples: Lipitor takes advantage of the word lipids. And Stilnox, for insomnia? It comes from German stille nacht which, of course, does the same with our song «Astro del ciel», but means silent night. The birth of a drug name is a fascinating, long and expensive process. If we talk about blockbuster pills, multinationals have come to spend millions of dollars or euros to find the right one. Its development involves professionalism and skills from the most varied fields: medical, pharmaceutical, legal, linguistic, economic and advertising. Very often names really seem like just a jumble of unpronounceable syllables and emphatic-sounding letters. Today, a program like Drug-O-Matic on the WorldLab.com site is enough to create plausible ones.
IN THE DICTIONARY – Yet the experts of naming worldwide argue that the name of medicines is now a real "lingua franca". Botox (anti-wrinkle), Prozac (antidepressant) and Viagra have even rightfully entered the Oxford dictionary of English, as well as the Zingarelli of the Italian language. But how many are the names of the drugs? An average of 1,000 files are filed by the US Office of Registration and Trademarks (USTPO) each month. In the European Union alone there are no less than 663,000 registered trademarks. With only 26 letters of the alphabet available and 35-36 percent of proposed names rejected by the FDA (Federal Medicines Agency in the United States) and 50 percent by EMA, the European Medicines Agency, the creative challenge is disruptive. So how is a name born? «Prozac, which we invented, is a semantic exercise that derives from a very simple concept - explains Manfredi Ricca, managing director of the Italian headquarters of Interbrand, one of the two global giants in the naming -: the Latin "pro" gives the idea of something I do in your favor. "Zac" in itself doesn't mean anything, but it's a terminal syllable that gives the idea of speed and immediate resolution, it communicates a positive surge. The name must position the product and is its business card. It's the one thing you really can't do without."
