Meet the Street: How to Name a Blockbuster Drug

Paxil. Zoloft. Nexium. Vioxx. Viagra. Ever wonder how pharmaceutical and biotech companies come up with names for their bestselling drugs? Is there any logical method to the maddening mix of vowels and double consonants? And what's with all those Z's and X's, anyway?

James Singer, president and chief creative officer of NameBase/MediBrand, spends all day coming up with drug names that roll easily off the tongue and stick in the minds of doctors and patients. Before starting his own firm, Singer worked for the New York branding giant InterBrand, where he helped to conjure up the brand name for the antidepressant fluoxetine. You know it better as Prozac.

We asked Singer to take us through the drug-naming process. ...