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What's in a Name?

When my daughter was in the fifth grade her teacher offered the class a night without homework if they could memorize the "Jabberwocky," Lewis Carroll's lengthy poem from Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. Thus inspired, Katie did memorize the entire thing. The teacher did not give her the night off, but that's another story.

Anyway, here are the opening lines of the poem: "Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / did gyre and gimble in the wabe; / all mimsy were the borogoves, / and the mome raths outgrabe."

These are nonsense words, gibberish, totally lacking any reference in our world. Even in the context of the book they have no meaning.

Here are some other nonsense words: Visudyne (visualize a dynamometer?); Macugen (a generator on a Mack truck?); Avastin ("Avast me hearties! Ahoy!"); and Lucentis ("Louie sent us to collect the vig — or else!")

However meaningless each is by itself, even I know they are treatments for macular degeneration. I can remember their names and I can remember what they do.

What about these: verteporfin; pegaptanib, bevacizumab, and ranibizumab. Read them out loud. Three times. Quickly.

If you were at a meeting, would you consider listening to a paper comparing Avastin and Lucentis? What if the paper compared vertizumab and pegapizumab, or whoputthebomp and ramalamadingdong, would you go? (Ha, ha, got you. Vertizumab and pegapizumab don't really exist. I just made them up. You couldn't tell, could you? The other two are in clinical trials. Really. Cross my heart.)

Please, Keep it Simple

The trend toward mentioning medications only by their generic name has gone way too far. I find them as meaningless as any other made-up word. Brand names are easier to say and easier to remember and so they help me. I know a little bit about Avastin and Lucentis, but I don't know which is bevacizumab or ranibizumab — and to tell the truth I really don't care. Life's too short and my brain's too cluttered.

The emphasis on using generic names was supposed to make us write less expensive prescription and help us deny being influenced by the personal attention we receive from the drug companies. However, using tongue-twisting words does not clarify a subject; it clouds it. And you know me — I eschew obfuscation.