Article

Top Mispronounced Brand-Name Drugs

Part of a pharmacist's job description is to remain professional and composed. This usually is not a problem-until someone completely butchers a drug name.

Part of a pharmacist's job description is to remain professional and composed. This usually is not a problem—until someone completely butchers a drug name.

It’s true that some drug names are hard to pronounce, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to keep a straight face.

Here’s a sampling from my personal collection of brand-name drug phonetic flubs, with mispronunciations in parentheses:

1. Abilify (A-Billy-fy, Ability)

2. Butrans (But-runs)

3. Cialis (See-all-this)

4. Dilaudid (Dilude)

5. Entex LA (Entex Louisiana)

6. Glucophage (Glu-pan-age)

7. Humalog kwikpen (Humalog Kiwi-Pen)

8. Keflex (Kel-flex, Kee-flex)

9. KY Jelly (Kentucky Jelly)

10. Lyrica (Lie-reek-ka)

11. MS Contin (Mississippi Contin)

12. Norco (Noco)

13. Nulytely (Nelly-telly)

14. Plavix (Pavlix)

15. Procardia (Procardiac)

16. Qvar (Kwee-var)

17. Soma (Sonomas, Zomas)

18. Tylenol (Ty-nol)

19. Victoza (Victoria)

20. Vivelle-Dot (Vel-vee-ta, Vivelle dot com)

21. Wellbutrin SR (Wellbutrin senior, Well-but-in)

22. Xanax (X and X)

23. Zyrtec (Zortex)

I’m sure you’ve already heard a few of these mispronunciations in your day-to-day. But don’t worry, there’s more where these came from.

Related Videos
Happy elderly patient with medical health checkup with cardiologist or geriatric doctor. Senior old aging woman with coronary artery heart disease or cardiac illness check-up in clinic - Image credit: Chinnapong | stock.adobe.com
Pharmacist and patient in a retail/community pharmacy setting -- Image credit: Zamrznuti tonovi | stock.adobe.com