Okay! I normally watch only four TV channels, two to get opposing political positions, one for its veterinary and wildlife programs, and one for its once a week reality humor. So it has been a drag for me to watch otherwise wasteful TV in order to collect the data for this article.

Moreover, this is the second time I have reported the unexplainable phenomenon that the pharmaceutical industry, even including its academic research constituents, persist in using the letter “X” in naming new drugs. Why? This applies not only to the product’s proprietary name, but also to many of the generic names.

I am obligated to report about this puzzling, irrational, but obviously effective tendency to increase sales of the respective drugs. Why else would they do it? More importantly, why does it work?

My research project ended today, just prior to me sitting down to write this column. I have no doubt that if I continued to search the channels for drug commercials flaunting the letter “X”, the forthcoming list would be much larger. But, frankly, two weeks of watching the Boob Tube and writing down drug names, many of which are in ads warning of such side effects as internal bleeding, loss of vision or hearing, cardiac arrest, pancreatitis, anaphylaxis, angioedema and even death, are all I can take.

As I accumulated the list below, I wondered if television itself was responsible for some of the cited side effects.

So, without further comment (and why I am the only person with a degree in medicine to have reported this “X” phenomenon, to the best of my knowledge), here is the list of “X” drugs I saw in television commercials in one two week period.

Nuedexta, Apixaban, Naltrexone, Rivaroxaban, Prodaxo, Eluxadoline, Xeljanz, Naloxegol, Zoustavax, Nuedexta and Rexulti.

There were even ads for drugs with two “X”s: Axploxion and Axploxionex.

You know if I were a pharmaceutical producer, I would try three or more “X”s, like: Pexenicillinexbiotix or Axisperxinex or Hydroxinogenex Peroxide. Imagine the efficacy of such products.

Since I wrote this, new products are being advertised. Two begin with “X”. The third has a silent letter preceding the “X” (which is pronounced “Z”).