Pharmaceutical nomenclature

Quick Quiz

Match the drug (number) to the disease it is approved to treat (letter) 

1. (Stromectol) 

2. (Januvia) 

3. (Humira)  

4. (Veklury) 

5. (Plaquenil) 

A. Psoriatic arthritis

B. Covid-19

C. Diabetes mellitus

D. Treatment of roundworms in animals

E. Malaria or inflammatory arthritis

Answers: 1-d, 2-c, 3-a, 4-b, 5-e; you get zero for wrong answers but  -1 for matching Stromectol (invermectin) or Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine) with Covid-19.

If you got them all right, good for you, but the names of the medications likely gave you no clue as to what their treatment indications were.

The following are three groups of three medications that lower glucose through different mechanisms.

1. canagliflozin (Invokana), dapagliflozin (Farxiga), empagliflozin (Jardiance)  

2. sitagliptin (Januvia), linagliptin (Tradjenta), saxagliptin (Onglyza)

3. exenatide (Byetta), dulaglutide (Trulicity)  semaglutide (Ozempic)

Note in the above examples that the brand names have no resemblance to the generic name and give no clues as to what the medication does. However, the suffixes in the generics are largely the same for each of the separate groups, and in medical discussions, they are frequently referred to as the “gliflozins,” “gliptins” and “glutides,” respectively.  

Likewise, newer “biologic” medications, like Humira, have generic names that end in “mab” which means they are a class of drugs known as monoclonal antibodies.

Generic names are at least partially related to the chemical structures of the drugs. How brand names are derived is as mysterious as how insurance companies decide what tests or procedures to authorize for coverage. 

Not too long ago, Pfizer, having gotten approval to release its Covid vaccine beyond the emergency use authorization, marketed its vaccine under the name of COMERNITY. It was an effort to relay the ideas of COMmunity and immuNITY (I have no idea what the ER in the name represents). The name quickly got panned because of its difficult pronunciation. 

One wag suggested it sounded like someone was trying to pronounce “community” with a mouthful of crackers. Moderna, on the other hand, came up with a jazzier name for its vaccine, SPIKEVAX, referencing the target of the vaccine, the spike protein in the virus that allows it to penetrate the cells it’s infecting.

Fortunately, in the realm of prescription medications, your health care clinician can explain what the medication does and the rationale for its usage. If you’re not sure, ask, until you do understand why you are taking a medication.

Blood Drives

The following are upcoming Red Cross Blood Drives in our area:

Feb. 16 at the Hope Christian Church in Augusta from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Feb. 20 at the Covenant Baptist Church in Sunrise Summit from noon to 6 p.m.

April 6 at Old School House in Rio from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Appointments can be made online at redcrossblood.com. To facilitate your donation and save time, on the day of your appointment you can click on to the RapidPass option from this website to answer the screening questions regarding donation; print the responses and bring them to the blood drive site.

 The writer is part of the primary care clinician team that treats patients at the Hampshire Memorial Hospital’s Multispecialty Clinic. That team includes the following family practitioners, Dr. Audreanna James, Dr. Brittany Streets, Dr. Andrew Wilcox. The team also includes Nurse Practitioner Missy Strite and Physician Assistant Karen Kimmel.