{"id":15212,"date":"2012-12-08T19:04:07","date_gmt":"2012-12-08T19:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicatescience.com\/zoonomian\/?p=15212"},"modified":"2017-08-07T23:11:49","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T22:11:49","slug":"a-ghost-of-medicinal-misnomers-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicatescience.com\/zoonomian\/2012\/12\/08\/a-ghost-of-medicinal-misnomers-past\/","title":{"rendered":"A Ghost of Medicinal Misnomers Past"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Old<\/a>
Old advertisements for medicines on a wall, corner of Regent’s Square \/ Sidmouth Street, London (Photo:Tim Jones)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aspirin by any other name<\/strong><\/p>\n

Drugs have at least two names: a generic or scientific name, and then any number of manufacturers’ brand names for what is essentially the same thing.<\/p>\n

So the generic names for two well-known painkillers are aspirin (acetylsalicyclic acid) and paracetamol (acetaminophen), but on Wikipedia<\/a> you’ll find at least a hundred alternative brand names for paracetamol alone.  My favourites are the cuddly ‘Panda’ and the bemusing ‘Europain’.<\/p>\n

It’s done of course to differentiate a commercial product, or identify a mixture of drugs – like aspirin and caffeine in Anadin.  But it hinders keeping track of particular chemicals that suit you, for a cold or whatever.   Also annoying are brands that list different drugs by application under the same headline brand, especially when the contents vary between countries.<\/p>\n

Ghost Sign<\/strong><\/p>\n

As much as I enjoy banging on about how brands can obfuscate choice and cloud rational decision-making – and not just in medicines – this post is really about that photo of a building above, that I took yesterday in Regent Square, London.   It’s an unlikely and incongruous survivor.   A wall covered in early hand-painted advertisements for medicines from a bygone age.  It’s a ghost sign.<\/a><\/p>\n