PAUL G. STECHER Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, Rahway, New Jersey
is the generic name of a drug? The adjective generic obviously comes from the Latin word genus and suggssts classification into genera as is the practice in botany and zoology. Actually the term is a misnomer as used in the drug field. The generic name does not relate to a class or genus of drugs; it denotes a single drug. Generic here is taken as opposed to specific. Specific applies to the trademark (also called brand or proprietary name) which is specific to one sole owner, while the generic name is nonproprietary. The term nonproprietary is more accurate and descriptive, but generic sounds better, is shorter and easier to pronounceand so will probably stay with us for a long time to come, although it is a contradictory t-rm. It most decidedly does not describe a genus or kind of products common t o all the pharmaceutical WHAT
' Presented before the Division of Chemical Literature at the l3lst Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Miami, April, 1957.
trade. I t does denote or should denote a unique substance definable in chemical nomenclature as a single chemical compound not to be confused with 'ny other substance of the same kind or belonging in the same group of drugs. This definition has been broadened to allow the coining of generic names for natural aggregates of substances such as extracts of plant or animal origin, but excludes proprietary mixtures where each component has its own generic name. Generic names are devised to prevent loss of the trademark and to make drug identification easier for physicians, pharmacists, purchasing agents, and others not trained in chemical nomenclature. Chemical names are used as generic names where they are sufficiently simple and do not contain numbers or symbols. Such is the case with most inorganic and a few organic drugs, and nobody will want t o simplify such names as sodium bromide, sodium perborate, hydrogen -peroxide, or glycerin. Most organic substances, how-
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ever, require a generic name. It is one of the rules of prescription writing that no number or symbol shall he appended to a drug name unless it denotes dosage or quantity. This rules out most systematic chemical names of organic drugs. GENERIC NAMES AND TRADEMARKS
Usually a generic name should be longer than the trademark, yet still easy to pronounce, because non-use of a generic name may result in the loss of the proprietary nature of the trademark just as easily as the neglect to coin a generic name a t all. If a trademark becomes the common name of an article or substance, that is, if i t is used as a generic name, it ceases to function as a trademark and can no longer be retained as the exclusive property of a particular manufacturer. The trademark then falls into the public domain and becomes a generic name in everybody's language. This has happened to such words as cellophane, aspirin, escalator, nylon, and shredded wheat. These former trademarks have been declared generic by the courts and no further proprietary claims can be made upon them. A remarkable exception is Vaseline ". Although an officialdesignation in most European pharmacopeias, Vaseline" is the registered and fully maintained trademark of Chesehrough-Pond's, Ine., for its line of products, the best known of which is petroleum jelly. The correct way of referring to this product therefore is Vaselinee, Chesebrough-Pond's brand of petroleum jelly. (The symbol " indicates that the trademark is registered a t the U. S. Patent Office.) If any manufacturer's product is meant, the generic name only should be used, which in this case is "petroleum jelly." There is considerable confusion in the chemical literature as to the difference between the terms trademark and tradename. A trademark relates to a commodity and is synonymous with brand or proprietary name. A tradename relates to a business and is synonymous with the company name (1). How are generic names of drugs publicized? Usually the manufacturer coins the generic name and notifies the Council on Drugs of the American Medical Association. Upon approval by this council the new generic name may be referred to as "council-adopted" and will be published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association." Much later, usually several years later, if the drug is fortunate enough t o be accepted into one of the official compendia, such as the "Pharmacopeia of the United States of America" ( 2 ) , or the "National Formulary" (5),its generic name may he referred to as an official generic name. After the council has agreed that the generic name is fitting and proper, it is usually sent to the Combined Trademark Bureau for publieation in its journal (4). In the normal course of events the Federal Food and Drug Administration, the U. S. Pharmacopeia Commission, and t h e World Health Organization are also notified. Any one of these agencies alerts the manufacturer of an already existing generic name which, of course, voids the new proposal. Immediately upon acceptance the new generic name should also he published in the scientific literature. This is best done by a footnote in a chemical journal. Supposing the title reads "The Synthesis of D-4-Amino3-isoxazolidone," then the footnote should read: "Generic name cycloserine. The trademark of Merck & VOLUME 34, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER, 1951
Co., Inc., for cycloserine is Oxamycin." Such a procedure is a good introduction for a new drug since it acquaints the reader a t once with the three important names every drug should have: chemiral name, generic name, and brand name. Naturally other manufacturers or distributors will have different brand names, and it is not unusual for a popular drug to have as many as 20 brand names. It is imperative that a generic name be available as soon as the drug is made available to clinicians. When the tumor-indicating agcnt 2-(1-piperidylrnethy1)-1,4-benzodioxanwas developed, no generic name was ready with the unfortunate result that just benzodioxane began cropping up in the medical literature to designate this drug. It mas later given the generic name piperoxan and the trademark Benodaine". COINING GENERIC NAMES
A generic name must either be identical with the chemical name (examples: phenol, methanol) or it should have no chemical meaning at all (examples: bethanechol, edathamil). When a generic name is coined by contraction of a chemical name, great care must be taken that the generic name has no chemical meaning. Good example: cortisone from ll-dehydro17-hydroxycorticosterone. Bad example: allyl barhituric acid from 5-allyl-5-isobutylbarbiturir acid. Usually elimination of a radical still leaves a chemical compound for which a structure can be written. Another bad example is sulfacetamide. According to the last revision of the United States Pharmacopeia [U.S.P. XV] (3) this is
The generic name sulfacetamide patently is a eontraetion of sulfanilylaeetamide but is subject t o the following misinterpretation: Acetamide is H2NCOCH3,and sulfamide (5) has the formula H2NS02NH2;sulfaeetamide can therefore be interpreted as having the formula H2NS02NHCOCH3. This is quite different from the drug described in the pharmacopeia, which is really N1-aeetylsulfanilamide. Likewise the generic name must not carry any therapeutic connotation. Proposals of generic names such as antigoutine or dormazal are certain to be turned down by the Council on Drugs of the American Medical Association. More latitude seems to exist in the coining of trademarks as is evidenced by such names as Dormison and Suavitil. It is the strict law of every state in the Union that a druggist cannot substitute another manufacturer's brand when the trademark appears on the prescription. As a consequence, manufacturers, wanting to promote their particular brand, and t o avoid non-use of the trademark (which may result in its loss) are apt to choose awkward generic names, example ehlorprophenpyridamine maleate. No medical doctor is going to write this on a prescription when there is an easy trademark such as Chlor-Trimeton@. CHECKING FOR INTERFZRENCE
One must search far and wide to find a new name which does not conflct with some other drug's name already established. I t is quite necessary to make sure that there is no possible confusion or conflict with another generic name nor with any chemical name nor
with any trademark. You may think that your chosen generic name does not interfere with a given trademark, but the patent and trademark attorneys of your competitor are likely to prove otherwise. The original generic name for the antihistaminic Neo Antergan@ was pyranisamine. This had to be changed to pyrila.. miue I)ev:n~wI I p~m*ihle ~ interirre~~cr \\.it11 the t~xdcn~nrk I'yrihrl~mminr*,31co 3x1 ut~tihistilminiv. h n w i n l t $ two generic names are necessary to distinguish between different grades of the same substance: hexamethylenetetramine is called hexamine when a technical or reagent grade is involved and methenamine when a medicinal grade is meant. Similarly for medicinal calcium cyanamide the generic name carbimide has been proposed. Neither generic nor brand name should give offense in foreign countries. An aerosol preparation of cortisone could well be called Cortornist, sounding rather elegant in the U.S.A., but sales would drop off sharply in Germany where the word Mist means dung. In the bibliography are given the titles of some domestic and foreign compendia which facilitate such a search (6-14). It goes without saying that the subject-indexes to all abstracts journals usually found in chemical and medical libraries must be consulted also. FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS
Because of the increasing number of new drugs (some 35 per month the world over, not counting combinations) coiners of new generic names are running out of the necessary meaningless combinations of syllables, and electronic brains are asked to provide more syllabic combinations than the human brain can imagine. This is only a temporary answer, since the limitation is arithmetical. Already coiners of trademarks are using geographical maps, for example Miltown (generic name: meprobamate, rhemical name: 2-methyl-2-propyl-l,3propanediol dicarbamate) and Metuchen (chemical
name: 2,2-diethyl-1,3-propanedioldicarbamate). Perhaps coiners of generic names should consult star maps. LITERATURE CITED (1) United States Trademark Association "Trademark Management." Published by the Association, 522 Fifth Ave., New York 18. 1955. n. 90. (2) "The ~harm&opeia 'if the United States of America," 15th revi~ion(U.S.P. XV), 1955, Distributed by Mack Publishing Co., Easton, Pa. (:3) "The National Formulary," 10th ed. (N.F. XI, 1955. Distributed by J. B. Lippincott co., Philadelphia, Pa. (4) "Trademarks Registered with the American Drue Manofacturers ~ssoc&ion." An annual loose-leaf pr;blieation with cumolativtive monthly supplements. Published bv Combined Trademark Bureau, 505 Albee Bldg., Washington 5, D. C. Notwithstanding its title this publication lists generic names. (5) Chemical Abstrads, Vol. 49 (1955 Subject Index), p. 20258. (6) "The Merck Index," 6th ed., 1952. Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N. J. (7) "Facts and Comparisons." A loose-leaf publication with monthlv woolements. P.O. Box 8. Baden Station. St. Louis i5, ~ d . (8) "New and Nonofficial Remedies." An annual published by the American Medical Assooiation and distributed by J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Future vols. will bear the title: "New and Nonofficial Drugs." (9) "Unlisted Drugs," Vol. 1, 1949 to date. A monthly puhlication with yearly indexes. Published by Special Libraries Association. Distributed by Miss Wilma Kujawski, Distillation Products Industries, Rochester 3, N. Y. (10) WILSON,C. O., AND T. E. JONES,"American Drug Index 1957," J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, Pa. (11) KAPLAN,A,, "Manual dde Especialidades Medioinales" Tereera. Edieian 1951 (Suplomento 1953). Lopee & Etchegoyen, S.R.L., Junin 863 Buenas Aires. (12) FUMI,R., "Repertorio Terapeotico" XIIIa edieione, 1956. Aracne Editrice, Via Cusani 5, Milano. B. "Moderne Arzneimittel." Wissenschaftliche (13) HELWIG, Verlilgsgesell8ohaft, Stuttgart, 1956. U. B. "Materia Medica of Phrtrmaceutical (14) NAUYANRA~, Combinations and Specialties," 5th ed., 1954. Published by Medical Digest, Girgaum, Bombay 4.
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