Mastering Drug Names: A Guide to Remembering Prescription Trade Names

Prescription drugs help many people with various health issues live a healthy life. They cure diseases, ameliorate disabilities and manage long-term pain or illness. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists know prescription drugs by their scientific name, while pharmaceutical companies market the drug under a "trade name," which is often shorter and vaguely alludes to what the drug does. A prescription drug may have one or more trade names--several have many. If you wish to memorize prescription drug trade names, you can do so using a few simple steps.

Things You'll Need

• Computer with Internet access
• Paper
• Pen

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Instructions

• 1

  Go to an online prescription drug database, such as RxList, Medline Plus or Drugs@FDA. Type the a prescription drug's scientific name into the "Search" bar and hit enter. The drug's trade name(s) will display.

• 2

  Write down the scientific name of the drug. Draw a line across the paper, and write the drug's trade name(s) on the opposite side of the line.

• 3

  Read over the prescription drug names on the paper several times. Make sure to recite the drug's scientific name along with its trade name(s).

• 4

  Repeat the above steps for other prescription drug trade names that you would like to memorize.