Powerful brand names for pharmaceutical products are important tools to offset competitive pressure from generics and to build customer loyalty. Brand naming for a pharmaceutical product is unique, as it is not only affected by marketing decisions, but also heavily regulated by state legislations.

From a marketing perspective, brand naming for a pharmaceutical product may take into consideration aspects such as the chemical/biological nature of its active ingredient, composition/formulation, therapeutic indication, associated medical condition, benefit, and adherence to the corporate identity. From a communication point of view, pharmaceutical branding specialists sometimes exploit the flexibility to emphasize either prescribing physicians or patients, in which case they must decide whether to focus on the functionality or the end-user benefits. It is also from the same angle that pharmaceutical naming is usually considered of great complexity, as most of the time, both audiences should be targeted.

However, Chinese regulations on pharmaceutical drug naming frown upon utilization of characters that are either indicative of curative effect, intended use, target audience or may imply efficacy.

Large quantities of information on prescription drugs marketed in China by major multinational pharmaceutical companies is firstly collected and compiled. The following hidden rules are observed:

Powerful brand names for pharmaceutical products are important tools to offset competitive pressure from generics and to build customer loyalty. Brand naming for a pharmaceutical product is unique, as it is not only affected by marketing decisions, but also heavily regulated by state legislations.

From a marketing perspective, brand naming for a pharmaceutical product may take into consideration aspects such as the chemical/biological nature of its active ingredient, composition/formulation, therapeutic indication, associated medical condition, benefit, and adherence to the corporate identity. From a communication point of view, pharmaceutical branding specialists sometimes exploit the flexibility to emphasize either prescribing physicians or patients, in which case they must decide whether to focus on the functionality or the end-user benefits. It is also from the same angle that pharmaceutical naming is usually considered of great complexity, as most of the time, both audiences should be targeted.

However, Chinese regulations on pharmaceutical drug naming frown upon utilization of characters that are either indicative of curative effect, intended use, target audience or may imply efficacy.

Large quantities of information on prescription drugs marketed in China by major multinational pharmaceutical companies is firstly collected and compiled. The following hidden rules are observed:

1. Phonetic resemblance, particularly of the first character of the Chinese name, is the industry naming norm.

For example, the immuno-suppressant Imuran (GSK 葛兰素史克 gě lán sù shǐ kè) is known as 依木兰 [yī mù lán] in Mandarin. The original name has “Imu” which is immediate indicative of the therapeutic class of the product. However, 木兰 means magnolia and also is the name of an ancient Chinese female warrior. 依means to rely on. Some might argue a faint connection with immuno-suppression. But overall, 依木兰 conveys a sense of clashing. The association with the ancient warrior adds to the bizarre flavor of the name.

Another example is the osteoporosis drug Fosamax (MSD 默沙东 mò shā dōng). The original name, a combination of “fos”, from the Latin for “bone”,and “max”, is a combination that conveys the meaning of maximizing bone strength. Its Chinese name, 福善美, is pronounced “Fú Shàn Měi”. Each character represents one syllable in Fosamax. However the literal meanings of the characters 福善美 are blessing, kindness and beauty, respectively, which do not indicate the function of the product at all. Surely, the charm of this name is that it communicates the sentiments tailored for its target population – mostly postmenopausal women.

2. Some pharmaceutical companies adapt the Chinese names of their products to adhere to their branding strategy.

For example, Roche is known as 罗氏 [luō shì] in Chinese, which consists of a simple phonetic transliteration of “Ro” into 罗 and “Che” into 氏. In order to benefit from Roche’s long-lasting and strong brand reputation, the company has incorporated the character罗into the Chinese names of the majority of products marketed in China. The original names of products such as Recormon, Rocephin, Rocaltrol, Roferon were also conceived with this principle in mind. In their Chinese names, 罗可曼 [luō kě màn], 罗氏芬 [luō shì fēn], 罗盖全 [luō gài quán], 罗荛愫 [luō ráo sù ], the consistency is easily preserved. Additionally, in products such as 希罗达 Xeloda [xī luō dá], 特罗凯Tarceva [tè luō kǎi], 美罗华 MabThera [měi luō huá], 邦罗力 Bonepain [bāng luō lì], 派罗欣Pegasys [pài luō xīn], the character “罗” is used sometimes as a phonetic proxy for “lo” and “r”, but most importantly for the sake of preserving the brand identity. Another example is Novo Norsisk, known as 诺和诺德 [nuò hé nuò dé] in Chinese, with a portfolio of products such as NovoSeven诺其 [nuò qí], NovoRapid 诺和锐 [nuò hé ruì], Novolin 诺和灵 [nuò hé ling], NovoPen 诺和笔 [nuò hé bǐ], NovoNorm 诺和龙 [nuò hé long].

3. Taking advantage of the complexity of Chinese vocabulary, characters with identical or similar pronunciation are most often used in the naming process for various reasons.

1) To indicate the chemical or biological nature of the active ingredient.

For example, the anti-viral drug 罗荛愫 Roferon [luō ráo sù] of Roche 罗氏 is an interferon used in the treatment of hepatitis. Interferon is translated into 干扰素 [gān rǎo sù] in Chinese. In 罗荛愫, 荛愫 does not have any meaning but is pronounced identical to 扰素Rǎo Sù. Hence 罗荛愫 became a name that conveys both its brand identity and its function.

2) To convey the emotional impact of the product.

Characters indicating a certain medical condition often bring about a negative, stressing, emotional burden. However, it is in many instances necessary to incorporate such characters. Due to this delicate situation with pharmaceutical products, characters with an identical pronunciation but a better semantic indication are often used instead.

An example is the famed anti-depressant Prozac 百优解 [bǎi yōu jiě] by Lilly 礼来 [lǐ lái]. Here优 not only used is an indication of the superb quality of the product, but also as a phonetic proxy for 忧 meaning sorrow and worries. Together 百忧解 has a literal meaning of “resolve all your worries and concerns” and bring out the benefit of the product on patient’s life. 4. Examples of good Chinese names combining semantic significance and phonetic similarity exist as well.

For example, the anti-thrombosis drug Clexane of Sanofi-Aventis 赛诺菲-安万特 [sài nuo fēi - ān mo tè] is an anti-coagulant and can prevent deep vein thrombosis and arterial thrombosis. 克赛 is pronounced “Kè Sài”, with “K” referencing the pronunciation of “C” in and ”S” referencing that of “X” in “Clexane”. 赛 pronunciation is closel to 塞 [sāi], which means clot in Chinese; while 克 means overcome, conquer. Together, 克赛 clearly indicates the function of the product, which is to eliminate blood clots in the vessels. Another hidden rule of the game is that 赛 is used over 塞, as the latter, meaning clot and blockage, conveys a somewhat negative connotation, while 赛, meaning exceeding, renders a positive and powerful tone alongside 克. Not to mention that 赛 can be also considered as suggestive of the drug maker 赛诺菲-安万特.

Another exceptional name is 沐舒坦[mù shū tǎn] for Mucosolvan of Boehringer-Ingelheim 勃林格殷格翰 [bó lín gé yīn gé hàn]. 沐 means to bathe which vividly captures the benefit of Mucosolvan – to cleanse the mucus excretion problems as if the medicine were bathing the lungs. 舒坦 together means comfortable but the combination of “shū tán”, which written is 舒痰, means getting rid of the phlegm (痰). Phonetically speaking, it also includes the pronunciation of “Mu” and “S”.

As demonstrated, pharmaceutical naming, although not the most glamorous of all kinds, is nevertheless an art that requires care and expertise. In the turbulent generic storm, a product name that stands out of the crowd will surely be the most rewarding one.