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bettyleca...

January 14, 2009 06:39 PM

The generic diazepam came after Valium was "invented", correct?

a friend insists that valium got ITS name from diazepam...my understanding is that LaRoche "invented" Valium...and after the patent ran out, diazepam is a name given to its generic form?

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nickfitz

January 14, 2009 07:21 PM

"Diazepam" is a name relating to the chemical structure of the drug, which belongs to the family of drugs called benzodiazepines. This would have been the name by which it was known to Hoffmann-LaRoche's pharmacologists when it was first developed.

"Valium" is the brand name used by Hoffmann-LaRoche to market the drug. Large companies usually maintain lists of such names; when a new product is to be brought to market, one of the names is chosen, purely for marketing purposes.

Even when Hoffmann-LaRoche held the patent giving them the exclusive right to market the drug, its chemical name was still "diazepam". So the name "Valium" came second.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine

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glaspell

January 18, 2009 05:38 AM

I feel like you are splitting hairs in answering the asker's question and it’s not entirely helpful.

Saying Valium got its name from diazepam does NOT make sense; the drug was invented (according to the wiki page you linked) by someone who worked for Hoffmann-LaRoche and it was NAMED "Valium." It was also “diazepam” while it was Valium, but NOT the “generic diazepam.” So, it was at the point both Valium & diazepam.

Then, after Valium was released and the patent was up, others could market it with the generic name, and it could be just “diazepam.”

So, while you are correct in saying that the generic name is the same as the chemical name it naturally has, and thus that name came first, the asker is correct to say that "diazepam" is the name given to its generic form, and that “diazepam” did not exist as such (with such name – as merely “diazepam”) on the market until after Valium’s patent expired.
The answer to the asker’s first question, “The generic diazepam came after Valium was ‘invented’, correct?” is indeed correct. “Generic diazepam” did not “come out” onto the market until after Valium.
Basically, it’s a semantic issue but I think you could have worded your response in a way that was more helpful to the asker.

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