Neetu purchased a drug with the brand name `Lona' from a pharmacy. Just before consuming it she thought of checking the label. She could find the same brand name. Casually, she looked at its contents. She wanted Lona, a brand of anti-epilepsy drug with clonazepam, marketed by Triton Healthcare Private Limited, Chennai. Neetu was sold Lona exactly as prescribed, but containing low sodium salt marketed by Dabur meant for hypertension. This type of branding is quite common in the pharma industry. Likewise, there are several other brands that surprise and confuse people. So, can we expect medicines or drugs with brand names like Bru, Tide, Hit, Palio or Onida in the future?

The practice of tagging a brand name is the development of the ancient custom of branding one's belongings. It is used to differentiate one product, especially a competing product from another. Drug companies face a lot of competition among their branded medicines and generic alternatives—"generic is the name of the ingredient that is contained in the medicine; brand name is the trade name by which it is sold".

Pharma branding is a difficult terrain. The pharma industry differs from the FMCG industry in more than one way owing to the restrictions laid on advertising and promotion. This restriction is a hindrance to the development of brand loyalty and mind share.Various parties are involved in the purchase decision of a drug. This makes the pharma marketer's job quite challenging. This plethora of brand names creates confusion among the practicing doctors, pharmacists and patients. Too many medicines in India are sold under similar, if not exactly the same brand names. Sometimes, the same brand name is used for different generic components manufactured by different companies.

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