GLYCO-THYMOLINE
Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
The Council, having voted that Glyco-Thymoline be refused recognition, authorized publication of the following report.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary
Glyco-Thymoline (Kress and Owen Company, New York) is a typical example of a “patent medicine” advertised to the public through the doctors. Bottles of the mixture with the name blown in the glass are issued to physicians for distribution to patients, and the circular which comes around the bottle more or less directly recommends it for use in almost every form of infectious disease.
COMPOSITION AND VARYING FORMULAS
Different formulas for Glyco-Thymoline have appeared. At one time it was said to contain:
“Sodium 24, Boric Acid 4, Benzoin 4, Acid Salicylic 0.33, Eucalyptol 0.33, Thymoline 0.17, Betula Lenta 0.08, Menthol 0.08, Pini Pumilionis 0.17, Glycerin and solvents, q.s.”
Another formula, which appeared about the same time, was:
“Benzo-Salicyl. Sod. 33.33, Eucalyptol 0.33, Thymol 0.17, Salicylate of Methyl from Betula Lenta 0.16, Pini Pumilionis 0.17, Glycerin and solvents q.s.”
A later formula was like the second except that it included “Menthol, 0.08.”
Analysis in the chemical laboratory of the American Medical Association showed that Glyco-Thymoline contained borax, but no boric acid; sodium salicylate, but no salicylic acid; sodium benzoate, but no benzoin; the compound benzo-salicyl. sod. could not be determined, but a mixture of sodium benzoate and sodium salicylate was demonstrable.[50] Later Puckner pointed out[51] that while such a combination as benzo-salicylate of sodium is known, it could not possibly be present in Glyco-Thymoline because the alkalinity of this mixture would decompose the compound. As the manufacturers evidently recognize that false formulas can no longer be made plausible, only vague statements as to the composition are now offered.
Two points should be noted in this connection:
1. Glyco-Thymoline conflicts with Rule 1 of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, which declares that no article shall be accepted for inclusion with New and Nonofficial Remedies unless its composition be furnished.
2. No matter which published formula be accepted as correct, it is at best a weak antiseptic. The antiseptic ingredients present cannot act as germicides in the strength in which they are used, or in the alkaline solution on the unique virtues of which the circular lays so much stress (“the one antiseptic solution based on the alkalinity and saline strength of normal blood”). As shown by Verhoeff and Ellis,[52] undiluted Glyco-Thymoline does not kill Staphylococcus aureus in four hours. It evidently, they say, “could have but little if any greater therapeutic value than sterile salt solution.”
DANGEROUS RECOMMENDATIONS
In Diphtheria: “Case-reports” in the advertising pamphlet describe the treatment of diphtheria with Glyco-Thymoline. It is surely unnecessary to point out that, whatever the possible merits of Glyco-Thymoline or its ingredients, they are utterly irrelevant here. But let a “case-report” be quoted:
“............., M.D., states: ‘I have many an interesting story of Glyco-Thymoline. I just finished up a family in which I was treating five cases of diphtheria—two of which presented diphtheritic membrane in nasal cavity. I decided not to use antitoxin in these cases. I used only the regular constitutional treatment and Glyco-Thymoline as a local antiseptic. I believe the Glyco-Thymoline worked wonders. My cases are all now in good health, with no after troubles. I think it an ideal antiseptic for every trouble in nose and throat.’”
Words of denunciation fall flat before the complacent self-revelation of the physician who “decided not to use antitoxin.” Surely if any other physicians have been misguided by this example, there must be many another “interesting story of Glyco-Thymoline” to tell—not to speak of other families that have been “finished up.”
In Ophthalmia Neonatorum: We gain from the same advertising pamphlet the following information on prophylaxis:
“The treatment in the past has consisted of instillation of silver nitrate, boric acid, salts of mercury, nucleinated salts of silver and mercury, etc. ..., but these agents have proved to be failures as an absolute specific.... During the past few months experiments have demonstrated the efficacy of a new mode of treatment that is both rapid and thorough, and devoid of danger in its use. This method consists of thorough irrigation of the eyes in fully developed cases of the disease with a solution of Glyco-Thymoline.”
At the very best, Glyco-Thymoline is a weak, a very weak antiseptic—not a germicide. To assert, or even to imply, that it is superior to the well-tried and efficacious Credé method of treatment for ophthalmia in the new-born is cruelly wicked.
In Consumption: This from the same pamphlet:
“The indifference of phthisical patients toward the maintenance of sanitary conditions is proverbial.
“That the environment of all such patients should be absolutely aseptic both for the good of the patient and for the welfare of those who are brought into contact with them is a well-established fact.”
It is, instead, an ill-established fiction. To talk about maintaining an “absolutely aseptic” environment under any practical conditions of daily life is to talk nonsense; the thing is impossible, even were it desirable. But, not to be distracted from the main issue by subsidiary falsehoods:
“In Glyco-Thymoline we have an antiseptic which, while mild and soothing ... is still a powerful agent for promoting asepsis, and a potent factor in the maintenance of sanitary environment in the sick room.
“Inhaled from a vaporizer or a fine spray atomizer, it will loosen the mucus in a marvelous manner and in a wonderfully short time, shorten the paroxysms of coughing to a marked degree, at the same time reducing the danger of contagion to a minimum.”
And this is the preparation, it will be remembered—this “powerful agent for promoting asepsis”—which, when applied in undiluted strength, was unable to kill Staphylococcus aureus in four hours!
It would be a waste of space to cite further evidence to show that the advertising of Glyco-Thymoline is in conflict with Rule 6 of the Council, which provides that no article shall be accepted “concerning which the manufacturer or his agents make unwarranted, exaggerated or misleading statements as to the therapeutic value.” It is further in conflict with Rule 4, against indirect advertising by means of the label, package or circular accompanying the package.
CLAIMS TO ORIGINALITY
Hatcher and Wilbert have pointed out that from a therapeutic point of view the composition of Glyco-Thymoline is based on the formula of the widely known “compound solution of sodium borate,” or Dobell’s solution. For the phenol in the original, a mixture of antiseptic acids and volatile oils has been substituted.
SUMMARY
Glyco-Thymoline is in conflict with Rules 1 and 4 of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, because of its indefinite composition and the method of advertising it to the public. It is in conflict with Rules 10, 6 and 8, in that it is an unscientific, shot-gun mixture sold under unwarranted therapeutic claims and under a misleading name. Altogether it must be considered an unscientific heterogeneous mixture, in which a few valuable ingredients are hidden by the useless shrubbery which surrounds them.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Oct. 10, 1914.)