Pharma Name Games: So What If Sepracor Suddenly Becomes "Aptiom"?

(MoneyWatch)  Will Sepracor change its name to "Aptiom" on April 1? That's the speculation on CafePharma, where one anonymous commenter notes that the maker of the sleeping pill Lunesta, whose moth-filled ads have dominated TV screens for the last few years, has been registering new trademarks that could become a new company name.

Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma acquired Sepracor last year using a "wholly-owned indirect subsidiary" called Aptiom, which was the legal entity of Dainippon that technically acquired Sepracor. The CafePharma commenter writes:

DSP is jockeying to drop the Sepracor name as of April 1st, but there is obvious push back considering our "brand" is well recognized and any change would result in major confusion on the distribution/pharmacy side for commercial products.

... Let's all hope the remaining Execs in Marlboro have enough smarts (and pull) to keep the Sepracor brand...but if they don't or can't then all of us will be "REBRANDED" like animals- adding further insult to a very long list of permanent injuries.

The commenter picks these four names as potential new trademarks that could become the new company's moniker:

• Aptiom
• Fortunity
• Vistance
• Sagenesis

The names were all registered by Dainippon last year. While Aptiom is already the official name of Sepracor's parent company, the trademark registry makes little distinction between potential company names and speculative marks the company is simply reserving for itself. (For example, one doubts the Japanese will rename the company "Fluclet" or "Snowgran," which it also owns.)

The fact that Sepracor's employees may feel attached to their current name is, in the long term, irrelevant. Few people pine over the loss of Warner-Lambert (now Pfizer), Lederle Labs (later Wyeth and now Pfizer), or Abe Plough's Plough Inc. (later Schering-Plough and now Merck). History suggests that acquiring companies rarely preserve the names of the companies they buy.

It's the product brand names that count (although those, too, can change -- Takeda's heartburn drug Kapidex became Dexilant last week in order to avoid confusion with two other drugs that had similar sounding names.)

Piece of advice: Whatever the new management chooses, they should resist the temptation to go with "Dainippon Sumitomo," which most Americans have difficulty spelling and pronouncing.

Related:

• A Tale of 2 Drug CEOs: Sepracor's Succeeded, Enzon's Failed, Yet Both Are Showered With Cash
• Sepracor Sued Over Dainippon's Low Offer Despite Absence of Competing Suitors
• Sepracor Has Stopped Advertising Lunesta, But Sales Still Go Up