How do drug companies come with the names of new drugs — both the generic and brand name?

Many major drug companies do polls to determine what names sound good. They’ll have focus groups and throw out a few names, and go from there. Some have names patented, and when they have a new drug they just slap on one of their patented names. Sometimes they try to pick names that imply something that has do do with the product, e.g. Allegra, which implies that you’ll be happy (alegre), or Celebrex, which implies that when you take it you’ll want to get out of your wheelchair and dance ’till the break of dawn. I worked at a company that always chose drug names that started with the letter "A," so that when doctors looked up drugs to treat a patient’s condition, my company’s product would be listed first.

A lot of times it is named after someone, like the scientist who created it. Ususally it has nothing to do with what compounds the drug or what it is made of. Studies have shown that brand names that start with "plosive" letters like P, T, K or C are more effective. Think about Coca-Cola, Compaq or Kodak and you get the idea.