CALMINE
New Names for Old Drugs
“Calmine, the new Hypnotic,” is another example of the ingenuity of the exploiters of proprietary preparations in coining new names for old drugs and the recklessness with which exploiters herald forth renamed remedies to the profession and the public as new and wonderful discoveries.
This is what the promoters, sustained by a calm confidence in the credulity of the profession, have to say:
In the medical circles throughout the country a good deal of interest and even enthusiasm over this new hypnotic is noticeable. Very few drug products have attracted so much attention as this one.
A really satisfactory hypnotic and sleep-inducer, which Calmine certainly seems to be, has been awaited expectantly for many years. Of course, we have always had agents of this sort—a new one has come out at frequent intervals—but none of them have “filled the bill”; they have been prescribed only because there was nothing better to be had.
Now this new and wonderful discovery is nothing but Veronal-sodium (sodium diethyl-barbiturate) under another name. It is the sodium salt of the more or less favorably known hypnotic, Veronal (diethyl-barbituric acid). It is also sold as Medinal, and differs from Veronal only in that the combination with sodium has made it more readibly soluble, and thus, it is claimed, its absorption is more prompt. Veronal is protected abroad by a trade-mark and in this country by a patent, and this, undoubtedly, is responsible for the introduction of this sodium salt under these fanciful names, because Veronal could not be sold without infringing on the patent. This in turn induced the manufacturers of Veronal, in self-protection, also to put the sodium salt on the market, and now we have it under the name of Calmine. This probably is only the beginning; soon we may look for it under a host of other names and the usual result will follow: thoughtless physicians who have had poor results with it under one name will try it under others. Or worse still, physicians will thoughtlessly combine Veronal with Calmine or with Medinal in the same prescription, thus giving a dangerous dose.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Jan. 14, 1911.)