CRESTOR (generic name: rosuvastatin) from AstraZeneca is used to treat high cholesterol and related conditions. Today, the name, as well as the product itself, is approved in 154 countries worldwide and is one of the most important products in AstraZeneca´s pharmaceutical portfolio.
The name was developed in 1999 and is a bit typical for pharmaceutical names in the 90’s, formed to be intensively branded not only towards medical specialists but also towards patients. An earlier tradition had been to try to find names like ATACAND or NAROPIN, which we created. These names were inspired by some parts of the generic names e.g. candesartan for ATACAND. In several meetings with AstraZeneca’s marketing and legal teams, we aligned the strategy to match the existing names in the portfolio, like Zestril. The core creative route was based on English dictionary names (like zest). CRESTOR was the result. It was approved by the FDA in 2003 and is now in worldwide use.
