Correspondence: R. John Fidelino, Interbrand Wood Healthcare, 130 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011, USA. Tel: +1 212 739 9663; Fax: +1 212 739 9682; E-mail: rrobins@interbrandwood.com

¹is Global Creative Director of Interbrand Wood Healthcare, responsible for the development and execution of its worldwide creative vision. Brands in the Interbrand Wood portfolio announced or launched since his arrival include: Viagra, Celebrex, Pegasys, Sonata, Kaletra, Fuzeon, and others that have changed the face of healthcare branding. He graduated from Brown University with a BS in neural sciences. His work concentrated on creativity and encompassed behaviour, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, cognitive science, psychology, and semiotics.

Received 29 March 2007; Revised 29 March 2007; Published online 29 May 2007.

Abstract

This is an update to a paper that appeared in the very first issue of the Journal of Generic Medicines in October 2003. Over the past few years, pharmaceutical manufacturers have started to diversify their portfolios to include generic medicines as a way to maximise their investment in patented drugs. With this dynamic as context, understanding the development and construction of a generic name may be helpful both to the manufacturer of patented drugs who wants to support the perception of distinctiveness among competition, as well as to the generics marketer who wants to leverage the legacy of previously patented drugs. This paper intends to define generic names, explain their purpose and the challenges they pose to manufacturers, provide some guidance on their development, and identify how the non-proprietary name can support marketing opportunities.