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From: Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: OT: Pharmaceutical Joke (Hilarious)
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2025 16:49:30 +1000
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On 26/04/2025 3:30 am, Cursitor Doom wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Apr 2025 17:11:55 -0700, john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 00:32:31 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I just heard this hilarious joke and thought I'd share it with you
>>> guys:
>>>
>>> "If you are a lesbian suffering from depression ask your doctor about
>>> Tricoxagin.”
>>>
>>> :-D
>>
>> I am reminded of the motto of The National Lampoon:
>>
>>    Good Taste Isn't Everything
>>
>> (Who makes up drug names anyhow?)
> 
> The drug company who owns the patent is free to call it whatever they
> like pretty much. But drugs have several names. There's the
> proprietory name (Tricoxagin in this example) then there's the generic
> name, which will be less 'popular' and recognizable. For example,
> Prozac (proprietory) is also fluoxetine IIRC. Then there's the
> chemical names of which there are at least three or four
> variants.Those describe the precise molecule itself with zero
> ambiguity.

The variants typically sacrifice precision for brevity.

> Lyrica, sold by Pfizer under that name is also pregabalin
> and it's prime chemical name can be 3-Isobutyl-GABA, or
> (S)-3-Isobutyl-aminobutyric acid, or IsobutylGABA (among others!)

There is a standard for chemical naming which nails down the structure 
and distinguishes optical isomers. For organic chemicals the names can 
be remarkably long. Even butane has two structural isomers - there's a 
straight chain isomer and methyl-propane with three methyl group and one 
hydrogen atom attached to a central carbon atom.

Diamond, graphite and the buckmeister-fullerine are all isomers of 
carbon but the structural differences are important.

-- 
Bill Sloman, Sydney