This list of pharmaceutical compound number prefixes provides codes used by individual pharmaceutical companies when naming their pharmaceutical drug candidates. Pharmaceutical companies generally produce large numbers of compounds in the research phase for which it is impractical to use often long and cumbersome systematic chemical names, and for which the effort to generate nonproprietary names may not be warranted, see article on drug nomenclature. Instead, these compounds are usually given a number for internal reference at the company. To distinguish the numbered compounds from different companies (or academic laboratories), each compound number is prefixed with a letter code indicating the company that developed the compound, that claims intellectual property on that compound etc. The letter code is conceived by companies themselves who should be interested in creating a unique code. Three main methods are found for prefixing the numeric identifier – with a space (gap), with nothing (concatenated), and with a dash (or hyphen).

For example, ABT-199 is a compound developed at Abbott Laboratories, and this name has been used in early publications of research results. Later the compound was assigned the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) venetoclax. Similarly, other compounds may be given a USAN or BAN for example. Finally, the compound may be given a trade name for example for marketing purposes.

A long list of code designations with corresponding trade names can be found in Appendix IV of the USP Dictionary, see article on drug nomenclature.

Note that this convention of composing compound identifiers from a company identifier followed by a number is not always followed. For example, the letter code may reflect a therapeutic/disease area or an internal project name. A randomly picked example is SC for spinal cord injury.

A to F A – Abbott Laboratories now AbbVie ABT – Abbott Laboratories now AbbVie ABBV – AbbVie ACP – Acadia Pharmaceuticals ACH – Achillion ACZ – Novartis ADL – Adolor Corporation AG – Agouron Pharmaceuticals, now Pfizer La Jolla Labs AH – Amersham plc (Amersham Health) AHR – A.H. Robins ALS – Alantos Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Amgen in June 2007 ALXN – Alexion ANX – Adventrx Pharmaceuticals AMG – Amgen

APD – Arena Pharmaceuticals

ARQ – ArQule ARRY Array BioPharma ASP – Astellas Pharma AT – Arecor Therapeutics ATB – Antibe Therapeutics ATL – Antisense Therapeutics Limited, Australia AVXS – AveXis, in May 2018 acquired by Novartis AY – Ayerst, later Wyeth-Ayerst, ultimately acquired by Pfizer AZD – AstraZeneca BAN – BioArctic Neuroscience AB, Sweden BAY – Bayer AG BB – Bluebird Bio BCX – Laboratoires Biocodex BI – Boehringer Ingelheim BIIB – Biogen BMS – Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY – Bristol-Myers Co., merging in 1989 into Bristol-Myers Squibb BRL – Beecham Research Labs, merged with SmithKline into SmithKline Beecham which merged into GlaxoSmithKline BTC – The Boots Company plc C – Laboratoires Cassenne CAM – Cambridge Antibody Technology, acquired by AstraZeneca CAS – Cassella Farbwerke Mainkur Aktiengesellschaft, later Hoechst, later Sanofi CAT – Cannasat Therapeutics Inc., renamed 2010 Cynapsus Therapeutics CAT – Cambridge Antibody Technology, acquired by AstraZeneca CC – Celgene CE – Pfizer CGS – Ciba Geigy CP – Pfizer. CP refers to C. P. Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Pfizer CSL – CSL Limited, an Australian biopharmaceutical company CVX – CovX, acquired by Pfizer in 2008 CYT – Cytopia of Australia, acquired by YM Biosciences, subsequently by Gilead Sciences D – Draco division of Astra AB, now AstraZeneca DMP – DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals, a joint venture between DuPont and Merck; became DuPont Pharmaceuticals in 1998 DPC – DuPont Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2001 DS – Daiichi Sankyo DX – Dyax EAG – Eagle Pharmacy, a United States pharmaceutical compounding company EIDD – Emory Institute for Drug Development EMD – Merck KGaA (E. Merck), Darmstadt, Germany (refers to laboratory founder Emanuel Merck in Darmstadt) ETC – Esperion Therapeutics, acquired by Pfizer in 2003, independent again since 2008 F – Forest Labs, acquired by Actavis FCE – Farmitalia-Carlo Erba, later Pharmacia AB, later Pharmacia & Upjohn, acquired by Pfizer FF – Fujifilm FG – FibroGen FK – Fermentek FPI – Fusion Pharmaceuticals FS – F-star

G to L G – J. R. Geigy AG, ultimately merged into Novartis G – Genta Inc. GDC – Genentech Likely Genentech Development Candidate GEH – GE Healthcare GNE – Genentech internal reference number, company pipeline uses GDC- prefixes GP – Geigy, merged with CIBA in 1971 to become Ciba-Geigy, now Novartis GR – GlaxoSmithKline GS – Gilead Sciences GS – Gesynta Pharma GSK – GlaxoSmithKline H – Hässle division of Astra AB, now AstraZeneca HCV – ViroPharma HOE – Hoechst AG ICI – Imperial Chemical Industries, acquired by AkzoNobel and merged into Zeneca Group by the merger of the pharmaceutical operations. Now part of AstraZeneca IDN – Idun Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Pfizer ILY – Ilypsa, acquired by Amgen in 2007 INNO – CytRx ION – Ionis IPI – Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc ISIS – Isis Pharmaceuticals (renamed Ionis Pharmaceuticals in 2015) JNJ – Johnson & Johnson KOS – Kosan Biosciences KPT – Karyopharm Therapeutics KU – KuDOS Pharmaceuticals KW – Kyowa Hakko L – Labaz Group, acquired by Elf Aquitaine in 1973 to form Sanofi LU – Lundbeck LY – Eli Lilly

M to S MBX – MBX Biosciences MCN – McNeil Laboratories, now part of Johnson & Johnson MDCO – The Medicines Company MDL – Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals MEDI – MedImmune, acquired by AstraZeneca MEM – Memory Pharmaceuticals MM – MindMed MRT – Monte Rosa Therapeutics MGX – Victory Pharma MK – Merck & Co. (Merck Sharp & Dohme) MLN – Millennium Pharmaceuticals MT – Micromet, acquired by Amgen in 2012 NBI – Neurocrine Biosciences NC – Nycomed NC – Nippon Chemiphar NCX – NicOx NG – Neurogen Corp. NI – Neurimmune NKTR – Nektar Therapeutics NSI – Neuralstem, Inc. NVS – Novartis OCT – Octant Bio OGX – OncoGenex OPC – Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. OSI – OSI Pharmaceuticals PD – Parke-Davis, now Pfizer PF – Pfizer PHA – Pharmacia, now Pfizer PNU – Pharmacia & Upjohn, now Pfizer PT – Pearl Therapeutics, now part of AstraZeneca PTI – Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc R – Janssen Pharmaceutica, now part of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen began as Belgian and Dutch distributor for products of Gedeon Richter Plc.) RDEA – Ardea Biosciences acquired by AstraZeneca RDX – Ardelyx RXC – Redx Pharma REGN – Regeneron Pharmaceuticals RLY – Relypsa RMI – Richardson-Merrell RO – Hoffmann–La Roche RP – ReceptorPharma RPC – Receptos, now Celgene RTI– Research Triangle Institute (mostly restricted to various phenyltropanes) RU – Roussel Uclaf RWJ – R. W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, now part of Johnson & Johnson SAGE – Sage Therapeutics SAN – Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, now Novartis SB – SmithKline Beecham, now GlaxoSmithKline SC – G.D. Searle, now Pfizer SCH – Schering Corp., later Schering-Plough SKF – Smith, Kline & French, later merged into GlaxoSmithKline SLV – Solvay SNS – Sunesis Pharmaceuticals SNS – Sensei Biotherapeutics SPD – Shire SPI – Spectrum Pharmaceuticals SU – CIBA Pharmaceutical Company (the Summit, NJ site) SU – SUGEN, now Pfizer

T to Z TAK – Takeda TC – Targacept Inc. TD – Theravance Biopharma TERN – Terns Pharma TG – Tragara Pharmaceuticals Inc., San Diego, CA TH – Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. TKS – Thiakis Limited, a UK biotech company (acquired by Wyeth in 2008). TM – TransMolecular TMC – Tibotec TNP – Takeda Neosplastic Product, from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company TNX – Tanox, now Genentech/Roche TOS – Totus Medicines TS – Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., a Japanese Pharmaceutical Company U – Upjohn (merged with Pharmacia 1995)

UCB – UCB

UCL – University College London UK – Pfizer Sandwich, UK USL – Upsher-Smith Laboratories UTE – University of Utah VET – Veterna S.r.l. VX – Vertex Pharmaceuticals WAY – Wyeth (Wyeth-Ayerst, acquired by Pfizer in 2009) WY – Wyeth (merged with Ayerst 1987) XL – Exelixis XTL – XTL Biopharmaceuticals XU – Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, now Novartis ZD – Zeneca, now AstraZeneca ZS – ZS Pharma, acquired by AstraZeneca

References