ASPIRO-LITHINE

Aspiro-lithine is another comparatively new example of the custom of proprietary manufacturers in putting forward old drugs under a new name and with them bidding for the favor of physicians. An inquiry has been received concerning this mixture. It is prepared by McKesson & Robbins and is said to contain in each tablet 5 grains of acetysalicylic acid (aspirin) and 21⁄2 grains of acid citro-tartrate of lithium. It is recommended for all the purposes for which acetysalicylic acid is commonly used, and on account of the lithium added is claimed to have much greater virtues than either of these drugs alone or of both combined.

We had hoped that the time had passed for reputable houses to employ such time-worn methods, but probably they will not stop so long as physicians encourage them by continuing to use such preparations. Acetysalicylic acid is a good drug, whose value is pretty well known. It is further known that lithium salts do not possess any great medicinal virtue. Just what acid citro-tartrate of lithium may be is hard to tell, for chemistries do not recognize such a substance. The name presumably is intended to hide the real nature of the preparation.

But if there be any advantage in combining lithium salts with acetysalicylic acid in a prescription, it is a simple proposition and requires no great skill, either on the part of the physician who writes the prescription or on the part of the druggist who puts it up, and such mixtures as aspiro-lithine, with the exaggerated claims made for them, should be avoided in the physician’s prescribing.​—(From The Journal A. M. A., May 28, 1910.)

BELL-ANS (PA-PAY-ANS, BELL)[AI]

Another “Patent Medicine” Foisted on the Public Through the Medical Profession

With such nostrums as Antikamnia and Resinol fresh in mind as flagrant examples of “patent medicines” introduced to the public through the medical profession, what follows regarding Bell-ans, or, as it is better remembered by physicians, Pa-pay-ans (Bell) will take on an added interest. Briefly, Bell-ans is the new name of a tablet that, according to chemists’ reports, is essentially charcoal, baking soda and ginger, flavored with oil of wintergreen. Its selling point, in the past at least, has been the alleged presence of papain. This drug, Bell & Co. allege, is present in their tablets and they claim is “the digestive principle obtained by our own exclusive process from the fruit of Carica papaya.” As long ago as 1909, the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry attempted to find papain present in what was then called Pa-pay-ans (Bell) and to determine the digestive power of the tablets but with negative results.

The efforts of other chemists were equally unavailing.

In January, 1914, Bell and Company changed the name of the product “Pa-pay-ans (Bell)” to “Bell-ans.” As The Journal remarked soon after, it seemed probable that, as the name of a nostrum of this kind is the manufacturer’s most valuable asset, the name was hardly changed, as was alleged, for purely euphonious reasons. It seemed more likely that as analyses had indicated there was not, and probably never had been, any appreciable amount of papain in the product, the change of name might be due to the fear that some day the misleading name might bring the preparation in conflict with the federal Food and Drugs Act.

For years physicians have realized that the methods of exploitation of Pa-pay-ans (Bell) have been such as to make the medical profession a vast free advertising agency for the nostrum. So far as we know Pa-pay-ans (Bell) has never been advertised in lay journals—​newspapers, etc. Certain medical journals, however, have, for a long time, carried the advertisements of Pa-pay-ans (Bell)—​and later of Bell-ans—​while Bell & Co. has been lavish in its distribution of free samples, blotters and other advertising paraphernalia direct to the medical profession.

Miniature facsimile of a letter received by a lay­man. It was ac­com­pan­ied by a small box of Bell-ans. Two points are worth noting: “... one hun­dred thou­sand phys­icians are now pre­scrib­ing it”; “any drug­gist will tell you” that it is per­fect­ly harm­less!

Now it seems Bell and Company are going direct to the public by means of vest-pocket samples and letters. The letter, a miniature facsimile of which we reproduce, is one addressed to laymen and accompanies a vest-pocket box of the nostrum.

Here are some of the things that Bell and Company claim Bell-ans will do:

“It removes flatulence, vertigo, weakness and other symptoms of indigestion quickly and pleasantly.”

“It relieves vomiting in pregnancy, alcoholism, seasickness and cholera morbus....”

“To promote appetite, digestion and the elimination of toxic and waste material prescribe the Bell-ans....”

“... prevent eruptions, nausea, vertigo, pain, etc. ...”

“... remove distention, pain, weakness, depression, etc. ...”

“There is no derangement of the digestive organs upon which the proper dose of Bell-ans (Pa-pay-ans, Bell) will not act quickly, pleasantly and favorably....”

There is no physician living who really believes such claims as these! Yet on the medical profession rests the responsibility for the exploitation of this nostrum. Those medical journals which accept advertisements for things of this kind are not so much to blame as those physicians who unprotestingly tolerate the journals that do so. Privately owned medical journals are published, usually, as a commercial proposition; they reflect, to a greater or less extent, the attitude of their readers, subscribers and contributors. There are at least three medical journals which carry the advertisements of Bell-ans. They are the New York Medical Journal, the International Journal of Surgery and the Massachusetts Medical Journal.

Bell-ans (Pa-pay-ans, Bell) possesses the virtues—and they are few—​and the limitations—​and these are many—​inherent to a mixture of bicarbonate of soda, ginger and charcoal. Any druggist could put up just as good a remedy, and any physician could write a prescription for a better one in those cases in which he might think it indicated. The whole secret of the commercial success of Bell-ans lies in the mystery of its composition and the fraudulence of the claims that have been made for it. The same tablets put out under a non-proprietary name, as an open formula and with claims that were reasonable and true, would have had practically no sale. The commercial success of Bell-ans is a monument whose foundation rests equally on the un­scru­pu­lous­ness of the manufacturer and on the gullibility of a learned profession.​—(From The Journal A. M. A., Jan. 16, 1915.)