Background: Only recently, regulations on the names of medicines were developed. Regulations are mainly focused on avoiding the approval of medicine names that may be confusing to others. Furthermore, legal requirements do not include testing for human factors, such as potential users' preferences.
Study aims: To develop a set of new brand names of medicines, to determine subjects' preferred names, and to evaluate if the linguistic features of these names were related to subjects' preferences.
Methods: Forty-six new names linguistically equivalent to the Portuguese brand names of medicines were developed. A panel of 13 postgraduates on linguistic studies were purposively enrolled. Participants were required to select and categorize the 6 most preferred names.
Results: From the 29 selected names: 62.1% ended in consonants, 65.5% contained at least one syllable of the CVC type, and 62.1% presented final stress. Considering these 3 linguistic features, there were statistically significant differences between the preferred and underpreferred names: χ2 = 4.572, P = .032; χ2 = 5.599, P = .018; and χ2 = 4.572; P = .032, respectively.
Conclusions: Some linguistic features of the evaluated names were related to subjects' preferences. Tests on subjects' preferences about the names of medicines may provide additional safety features addressed by the present regulations.
Keywords: Portugal; drug brands; medicine names; medicines information; medicines regulations.