In Pursuit of Robinson Crusoe – Article from #1 2019

Naming pharmaceuticals is a topic that has been thoroughly investigated and buzzed around, and where the world’s expertise agrees on at least one thing. With today’s increasingly dense jungle of brands, combined with the famously strict regulations of authorities such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the WHO (World Health Organization), the naming of pharmaceuticals is a true challenge. A series of legal, regulatory, linguistic and market-oriented hurdles must be overcome, not to mention the limited number of letters in the alphabet. However, with sufficient persistence and experience, devising a new pharmaceutical name remains feasible. When a pharmaceutical company develops a new medicine or new medical equipment, clinical studies are performed, lasting from a few weeks, up to a year or more depending on the issue studied. These studies take place in four different phases. (Continued in Article)

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