We have always said that anything can be branded. Now they are branding, or at least “naming” significant clinical drug trials.

At the Academy of Cardiology meeting this week, the results of a new clinical trial named COURAGE were released. The trial was to test certain heart medicines and their ability to prevent heart attacks vs. stents that are commonly inserted in clogged arteries. This is the first time I have run across “named” clinicals, but I quickly discovered more, for example both the FUSION and FUSION II clinicals concerning cholesterol drugs.

Isn’t it interesting that the same drug companies that give these major clinical trials such clear and easy-to-remember names, still put names on drugs themselves that are confusing and difficult to remember, even for physicians?