My first job after college was with a company that developed training for pharmaceutical sales reps, and it taught me a lot about trademarked drug names. In the materials we created, we had to make sure the drug name was handled correctly every time it appeared—that is, with any unique registered marks and trademarks, capitalization, hyphenation, or other symbols. I remember my boss specifically saying, “Make sure the drug name isn’t hyphenated at the end of a line, because that constitutes trademark violation, and they could sue us!”

Thankfully, I no longer have to worry so much about that kind of accuracy. However, that knowledge of and sensitivity to these terms has come in handy over the years as I branched out to work in scholarly nonfiction. I come across materials that are nonscientific or nonmedical that reference specific drugs. Major style guides have some rules for how to handle trademarked terms, but I feel that drug names are a bit of a special case. (Maybe I’m still paranoid from that first job.) So I’ve developed a variety of alternatives when I encounter brand-name drugs in materials I edit.

What the Style Manuals Say

My two preferred style guides, Chicago Manual of Style (18th edition [CMS]) and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition [APA]), have the following to say.

CMS 8.147: Generic names of drugs, which should be used wherever possible in preference to brand names, are lowercased. Brand names must be capitalized; they are often enclosed in parentheses after the first use of the generic name.

The patient takes weekly injections of interferon beta-1a (Avonex) to control his multiple sclerosis.

CMS 8.154: Although the symbols ® and ™ . . . often accompany trademark names on product packaging and in promotional material, there is no legal requirement to use these symbols, and they should be omitted wherever possible. [[Here is where I differ from CMS. I use these symbols, but only for brand-name pharmaceuticals]]

APA 6.14, similar to CMS, states that trade and brand names of drugs should be capitalized (generics should be lowercase), and avoid using ® and ™.

Handling Brand Names in Text

An issue is that many brand names have become common language. Just as Kleenex and Xerox have entered our lexicon and are used in a loose way these days, we throw around common or well-known drug names such as Viagra, Prozac, and Claritin. Sometimes it serves the text to be able to further identify these substances; alternatively, it might improve the text to do away with the trade names where possible. So beyond the CMS and APA guidelines, I find a few other options to be useful choices, and I outline them here.

First, when encountering a drug name in text, look it up online to confirm correct spelling, any hyphenation that needs to be retained, and the generic name of the drug. You can almost always find more information by typing www.[drugname].com into your browser.

Type or Class

If the drug is mentioned in passing only once or twice, you might be able to substitute the broad type or class of drug for a brand name or a generic name. For instance, if the brand name or generic name isn’t key to the narrative, “John takes Prozac” might easily be changed to “John takes an antidepressant” or “John takes a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor” (a bit of a mouthful!). Other examples:

Sally takes ACE inhibitors to treat her high blood pressure.
The pharmacist filled a prescription for a calcium channel blocker.
The doctor prescribed antipsychotics to decrease hallucinations.
Antibiotics are used to treat most ear infections.
Antiretrovirals are effective at treating HIV.

Generics

If you can use the generic to identify the drug (i.e., the brand name isn’t key to the discussion) in almost all cases, then do so, and follow the CMS and APA guidelines. Thus, “John takes Prozac” might be changed, in this case, to “John takes fluoxetine,” and you would continue to use fluoxetine every time it appears. If you’re following CMS, you would say, “John takes fluoxetine (Prozac).” This gives a bit of a hat tip to the brand name, and you only need to identify it at first use. Examples:

Anne takes propranolol (Inderal) to treat her panic disorder.
Joe took methadone (Dolophine) as part of his rehab program.
The doctor prescribed a maintenance dose of levothyroxine (Synthroid).

Brand Names

You can also reverse this and primarily use the brand name, identifying the generic at first mention in parentheses. Save this for when the brand name itself might be more important to the text or for those times when the generic name might be very long and it is shorter to use the brand name. Examples:

The doctor usually prescribed Haldol (haloperidol) for her patients with schizophrenia.
The gold standard of treatment for edema is Lasix (furosemide). [Note: These first two are examples are cases in which the brand name has entered the lexicon and is well known.]
Viagra (sildenafil) is the most well-known of the so-called lifestyle drugs. [Note: In this case you definitely need the brand name because the text discusses a specific product.]
Phil Mickelson endorses Enbrel (etanercept). [Note: This one must retain the trade name because Mickelson is endorsing a specific brand-name product.]
Cialis is a competitor drug to Viagra.
BiDil (isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine) is considered a commercial failure. [Note: The brand name is under discussion; also, the generic name is very long, so the trade name would be shorter and handier to use.]

More Information

Sometimes I hedge my bets with a parenthetical statement or addition to a footnote that indicates manufacturer information. This would be appropriate for certain materials—for instance, a text that compares various drugs that treat a particular condition, or material that discusses the pharmaceutical industry at large. Here are some examples:

Sildenafil (sold by Pfizer under the trade name Viagra) is a blockbuster drug.
Viagra (sildenafil; Pfizer) is a lifestyle drug.
When its patent protection ran out, zidovudine (originally marketed as Retrovir by Burroughs-Wellcome) was soon available in a generic version.

In all cases, it’s important to make your changes in service to the reader: What information do they need to know? What is the text discussing, for whom, and how much level of detail is truly necessary?

This post was originally published in June 2012 on the KOK Edit blog (https://editor-mom.blogspot.com/2012/06/copyediting-drug-names.html) and is reprinted and updated here by gracious permission of Katharine O’Moore-Klopf.

About Laura Poole

Laura Poole has been editing full-time since 1996. Her company is Archer Editorial Services, Inc., founded in 1997. She specializes in scholarly nonfiction copyediting in the humanities (books and journals) and provides training for publishers and editors. She currently serves on the ACES Awards Committee as head judge for the Robinson Prize.

Copyediting Drug Names