That's show business

The names of drugs are usually coined from words related to their chemical structures. For example, the full chemical name for a popular analgesic is N-acetyl-para-aminophenol. Simpler to use the British Approved Name, paracetamol, which is just a contraction of the full name, as is acetaminophen, the United States Adoped Name.

But some drug names have unusual origins. For instance, a few are derived from the entertainment business.

P Sensi and his colleagues at Lepetit Research Laboratories in Milan had the habit of giving new compounds nicknames, later substituting …