The registered trade name given to a drug product by its manufacturer. A brand name designates a proprietary drug and, as such, one that is protected by patent or copyright. In general, brand names are shorter, easier to pronounce, and thus more readily remembered than their generic counterparts.
The registered trademark given to a specific drug product by its manufacturer. Also know as a trade name. As an example, there is a widely-prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotic with the generic or established name of tetracycline hydrochloride. Its chemical name is 4-(limethylamino-l,4,4a,5,5a,6,ll,12a-octaliydro-3,6,10,12, 12a-pentahy(lroxy-6-methyl-l l-dioxo-2-naphthacenecarboxamide hydrochloride. Its chemical formula is C22H24N2OSHCL. This drug is marketed by Lederle Laboratories under the brand name “Achromycin”, by Bristol-Myers under “Bristacycline”, by Robins as ”Robins”, by Squibb as “Sumycin”, and so on. There are no official rules governing the selection of brand names. According to the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, the objective is to coin a name which is ”useful, dignified, easily remembered, and individual or proprietary.” Drugs are primarily advertised to practitioners by brand name. When a physician prescribes by brand name, anti-substitution laws in most States forbid the pharmacist from substituting either a brand or generic name equivalent made by a different manufacturer, although either may be less expensive than the drug prescribed.