What does -pril, -mab or -vir mean?

Slow the heart and blunt adrenaline. Used for blood pressure, chest pain, heart rhythm and more.

💡 Sotalol sounds like it should be an “-alol,” but it’s a beta-blocker that also steadies heart rhythm.

Relax blood vessels by blocking the enzyme that makes angiotensin II. Used for blood pressure, heart failure and kidney protection.

💡 Well-known side effect: a nagging dry cough. If it happens, mention it to your prescriber.

Relax the muscle in artery walls by blocking calcium. Mainly for blood pressure and chest pain.

Block angiotensin II at its receptor so blood vessels stay relaxed. Close cousins of the -prils.

Turn down the liver’s cholesterol factory to lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

💡 The first statin was discovered in a mold. Only the -vastatins count: nystatin is an antifungal.

Block endothelin, a powerful vessel-squeezer. Used mainly for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Relax muscle in blood vessels and the prostate. Used for blood pressure and urine flow.

Strong “water pills” that make the kidneys flush out salt and water.

Calm an over-squeezing heart muscle by tuning myosin, its motor protein (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy).

Boost the nitric-oxide pathway that relaxes blood vessels (pulmonary hypertension, heart failure).

Gentler “water pills” that lower blood pressure by helping the kidneys shed salt.

Block two kinds of adrenaline receptors at once to lower blood pressure.

Relax arteries and slow the heart rate. Used for blood pressure, angina and some rhythm problems.

Injectable blood thinners made from, or modeled on, natural heparin.

Blood thinners that block clotting factor Xa to prevent and treat dangerous clots.

Blood thinners that block thrombin, the enzyme that finishes building a clot.

Prompt the bone marrow to make infection-fighting neutrophils, often after chemotherapy.

Pills that coax the body into making more of its own erythropoietin (anemia of kidney disease).

Lab-made versions of the kidney hormone that tells bone marrow to make red blood cells.

Thrombin blockers modeled on hirudin, the natural anticoagulant in leech saliva.

Example: bivalirudin. No page in our library yet.

Break up clots that have already formed, as in some heart attacks and strokes.

Example: alteplase. No page in our library yet.

Slow the cells that break down bone, helping keep bones strong.

Mimic glucagon-like peptide hormones. The GLP-1 ones lower blood sugar, slow the stomach and curb appetite; teduglutide (GLP-2) treats short bowel syndrome.

💡 The -glutides are tweaked versions of the body’s own GLP-1 hormone. The first GLP-1 medicine, exenatide, copied exendin-4 from Gila monster saliva.

Make the kidneys pass extra sugar into the urine. Several also protect the heart and kidneys.

Keep the gut’s own insulin-boosting hormones (incretins) working longer.

Fast, short-acting pills that nudge the pancreas to release insulin at mealtimes.

Reduce the fatty build-up behind Gaucher disease; miglustat is also paired with an enzyme therapy for Pompe disease.

Injections that stimulate new bone growth in severe osteoporosis.

Act on the GIP gut-hormone receptor. Tirzepatide activates the GLP-1 receptor too.

GLP-1 mimics based on exendin-4, a hormone first found in Gila monster saliva.

Make muscle and fat cells more sensitive to insulin.

Block the gut enzyme that digests fat, so some dietary fat passes through unabsorbed.

Cut the body’s uric-acid production to prevent gout flares.

Target the liver’s thyroid-hormone receptor. Resmetirom treats fatty-liver inflammation (MASH).

Example: resmetirom. No page in our library yet.

Stop migraine attacks by stimulating serotonin 5-HT1 receptors.

Calming medicines that strengthen GABA, the brain’s natural “brake.”

Numb a small area by blocking nerve signals.

💡 The ending traces back to cocaine, the first local anesthetic, used in eye surgery in 1884.

Rebalance dopamine and serotonin signaling in conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Mostly SSRIs and SNRIs that boost serotonin and/or norepinephrine signaling (atomoxetine treats ADHD).

A family of calming and anti-seizure medicines.

Block the receptor for CGRP, a key migraine messenger. Some stop attacks; some prevent them.

An older antidepressant family, often used in low doses for nerve pain, migraine prevention or sleep.

Pain relievers that act on opioid receptors; tramadol and tapentadol also affect norepinephrine (and tramadol, serotonin).

Temporarily relax skeletal muscles during surgery while a ventilator breathes for the patient.

Reuptake inhibitors used for depression and anxiety.

Sleep aids that act on the same GABA receptor as benzodiazepines.

Migraine relief through a serotonin receptor that does not narrow blood vessels.

Very potent, short-acting opioids used mostly in anesthesia.

Open the airways by relaxing the muscles around them, from quick-relief to long-acting inhalers.

Block histamine to ease sneezing, itching and hives, usually with little drowsiness.

Open the airways by blocking acetylcholine. Common in COPD inhalers.

Block leukotrienes, inflammation messengers behind asthma and allergy symptoms.

Once- or twice-daily COPD inhalers that keep the airways open.

Switch off the stomach’s acid pumps. Used for heartburn, reflux and ulcers.

Mostly prevent nausea and vomiting by blocking serotonin signals from the gut to the brain; alosetron treats a severe form of IBS with diarrhea.

Turn down stomach acid by blocking histamine-2 receptors in the stomach lining.

Draw water into the intestines to ease chronic constipation.

Names an antibiotic’s origin in Streptomyces-type soil bacteria, not a single drug class.

Stop fungi from making ergosterol, a key part of their cell membrane (levoketoconazole instead lowers cortisol in Cushing’s syndrome).

Penicillin cousins that also attack bacterial cell walls, sorted into “generations.”

Jam the enzymes bacteria use to copy their DNA.

Interfere with some step in a virus’s life cycle.

💡 The more specific ending often names the virus: -navir and -tegravir (HIV), -buvir and -asvir (hepatitis C), -amivir (flu), -cyclovir (herpes).

Broad-spectrum antibiotics that stop bacteria from making proteins.

The original antibiotic family. They stop bacteria from building their cell walls.

💡 Penicillin itself was discovered by accident in 1928 when mold contaminated a petri dish.

Treat infections from oxygen-hating bacteria and parasites like Giardia and Trichomonas.

Block viral DNA copying in herpes, shingles and CMV infections.

Block the enzyme HIV needs to assemble mature, infectious virus.

Antibiotics from Micromonospora soil bacteria, such as gentamicin.

Trap newly made flu viruses on the infected cell so they can’t spread.

Clear parasitic worms by wrecking their internal scaffolding (microtubules).

IV antifungals that attack the fungal cell wall.

Broad-spectrum hospital antibiotics, often saved for resistant infections.

Stop HIV from inserting its genes into human DNA.

Non-nucleoside HIV medicines that jam the reverse transcriptase enzyme.

Counterfeit DNA building blocks that halt viral copying (HIV, hepatitis B).

Antibiotics related to kanamycin, used for serious infections.

Block the copying enzyme of the hepatitis C virus. Part of today’s HCV cures.

Disrupt the protein shell (capsid) that protects HIV’s genes.

Fake building blocks that stall a virus’s RNA-copying machinery.

Disrupt how SARS-CoV-2 copies its RNA.

Block NS5A, a protein hepatitis C needs to copy and assemble itself.

Example: velpatasvir. No page in our library yet.

Bodyguard molecules that disable the bacterial enzymes that destroy penicillin-type antibiotics.

Example: tazobactam. No page in our library yet.

Block the protease hepatitis C uses to process its proteins.

Example: glecaprevir. No page in our library yet.

Block the main SARS-CoV-2 protease so the virus can’t mature.

Example: nirmatrelvir. No page in our library yet.

Lab-made antibodies that lock onto one precise target, used in everything from cancer to migraine to eczema.

💡 Decoder bonus: in names coined before 2017, the letters just before -mab reveal the source: -ximab (chimeric, part mouse), -zumab (humanized), -umab (fully human). In 2021 the WHO retired -mab for new names in favor of -tug, -bart, -mig and -ment.

Anti-inflammatory steroids mostly used as inhalers, nasal sprays or skin creams.

Engineered receptor “decoys” that soak up an inflammatory or growth signal.

Calm the immune system to prevent transplant rejection; some treat cancer or eczema.

Pills that quiet overactive immune signaling inside cells (arthritis, eczema, alopecia and more).

Ease pain, fever and inflammation by blocking COX enzymes.

Dial down inflammation inside immune cells. Used for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and COPD.

NSAIDs that target the COX-2 enzyme, designed to be gentler on the stomach.

Block interleukin signaling in autoinflammatory diseases.

Targeted pills that switch off overactive kinase signals, mostly in cancer cells.

Counterfeit DNA/RNA building blocks that sabotage copying in cancer cells or, for some, in viruses like HIV.

Block testosterone’s receptor to slow prostate cancer.

Target the RAF switch, as in BRAF-mutated melanoma.

Red-colored chemotherapy antibiotics that damage cancer-cell DNA.

Block signals that tumors (and wet macular degeneration) use to grow new blood vessels. One, nintedanib, also slows lung scarring.

Put the brakes on the cell-division cycle; a mainstay for some breast cancers.

Block estrogen in some tissues and mimic it in others (breast cancer, osteoporosis, menopause symptoms).

Block the PI3K growth pathway, mainly in certain breast and blood cancers.

Block MEK, a relay switch in a cancer growth pathway.

Alkylating chemotherapy descended from mustard-gas chemistry, among the first cancer drugs.

Block a DNA-repair enzyme, exploiting weak spots such as BRCA mutations.

Platinum-containing drugs that tangle DNA so cancer cells can’t divide.

Chemotherapy derived from camptothecin, found in China’s “happy tree.”

Block Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, mostly to slow B-cell cancers such as CLL; newer ones treat chronic hives and ITP.

Block the “Hedgehog” growth pathway (named after spiky-looking fruit-fly larvae).

Freeze the cell’s internal scaffolding during division. The first came from Pacific yew bark.

Block folate so fast-dividing cells can’t copy DNA. Used for cancer and, in low doses, arthritis.

Jam the cell’s protein-recycling machinery, which myeloma cells rely on.

Block the microtubules that pull chromosomes apart during cell division.

Target mutated EGFR-family receptors (EGFR or HER2) found in some lung cancers.

Target rare TRK gene fusions, whatever organ the cancer started in.

Stop the body from turning androgens into estrogen (breast cancer).

Best known as glaucoma eye drops. A famous side effect: longer eyelashes.

Relax smooth muscle in blood vessels. Used for erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension.

Mimic somatostatin to switch off excess growth hormone and some tumor hormones.

Mostly calm an overactive bladder by blocking acetylcholine signals.

Block the body’s water-retaining hormone so the kidneys release more free water.

Oral blockers of the same hormone signal (fibroids, endometriosis, prostate cancer).

Synthetic peptides that act on the brain’s hormone-release signals (prostate cancer, endometriosis, fertility).

As eye drops, help fluid drain out of the eye in glaucoma; as a pill (belumosudil), treat chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Block the hormone signal that drives testosterone and estrogen production.

Example: degarelix. No page in our library yet.

Enzyme medicines. “-ase” is biochemistry’s universal “I’m an enzyme” tag.

Deliver a working gene or gene product, often as a one-time treatment.

Short chains of amino acids, often built to act like a natural hormone.

The -stat ending marks a drug that blocks a specific enzyme.

MRI “dyes” built around the metal gadolinium to sharpen the picture.

Living cells as medicine, such as CAR-T cells engineered to hunt cancer.

Tiny RNA strands that silence one gene’s message. Some are dosed only twice a year.

Epigenetic drugs, mostly for cancer, that change how tightly DNA is packed.

Short DNA-like strands that block a gene’s message or change how it is spliced (e.g., spinal muscular atrophy).

Swap some hydrogen atoms for heavier deuterium so the body breaks the drug down more slowly.

Full-length antibodies with engineered, “artificial” modifications.

A new naming stem with no approved U.S. medicines in our library yet.

Bispecific and multispecific antibodies that grab two or more targets.

A new naming stem with no approved U.S. medicines in our library yet.

Since 2021, standard full-length antibodies get -tug instead of -mab.

Example: atigotatug. No page in our library yet.

The virus-based “delivery vehicle” named in a gene therapy (usually the second word).

Example: onasemnogene abeparvovec. No page in our library yet.