“Prozac, the scientific name of which is fluoxetine, was the first drug whose public name was specifically created to evoke saleable images and ideas: in this case, the ‘pro’ connoting positivity, and the ‘zac’ the reassurance and exactitude of science. Since Prozac’s smashing success, it has become all but de rigueur that new blockbuster drugs have brand names that simultaneously soothe, invigorate, and inspire—the names of Viagra, Celebrex, Claritin, and others have all followed Prozac’s lead. . . . The stakes are so high that drug companies now work with branding agencies to select just the right name . . . a name like Zoloft, uplifting and scientific all at the same time. The hard decisive sounds of the letters X, Z, C, and D are attractive to drug namers. According to James L. Detorre, the president of the Institute (which came up with the names for Lipitor, Clarinex, and Allegra), ‘the harder the tonality of the name the more efficacious the product in the mind of the physician and the end user.’ The cost of developing a trade name for a drug is an estimated $500,000 to $2.5 million. Names are registered even before the drug exists. . . . The name Zoloft was invented by Frank Delano, a legendary marketing guru, who also created the names of Nissan’s Pathfinder and Quest minivans, GMC’s Yukon, and Primerica Financial Services.”

—Charles Barber, Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation, 2008.