The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2

by Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry

SANMETTO

Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry

The following report on Sanmetto (Od Chemical Company, New York) has been adopted by the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, which authorized its publication.

W. A. Puckner, Secretary.

Sanmetto is one of the oldest proprietaries on the market. Its advertisements have been familiar to the readers of medical journals for several decades past. It is a typical nostrum. It is secret although the promoters have published various “near-formulas.” The following are some of the statements regarding composition:

“A Scientific Blending of True Santal and Saw Palmetto with Soothing Demulcents in a Pleasant Aromatic Vehicle.”

As this did not disclose the identity of the demulcents or the quantity of the alleged active constituents, the “formula” was, of course, meaningless.

Again it is:

“A Scientific blending of true Santal and Saw Palmetto in a pleasant aromatic vehicle.”

Here the reference to “soothing demulcents” is omitted. The information furnished physicians at the present time is:

“It is a blend of harmonizing drugs.”

A letter from a physician requesting information as to the exact composition of Sanmetto recently elicited the following reply:

“... Sanmetto is a blending of true santal and saw palmetto with soothing demulcents in a pleasant aromatic vehicle. The demulcents are introduced not only for the purpose of modifying the irritant properties of the santal, but to add distinctively to the soothing properties of the finished product upon the mucous membrane of the urinary tract, and are not mentioned in our published formula for the simple fact that if we gave them, then we would do the advertising and the substitute manufacturer would engage in the ‘unfair competition’ of putting on the market his concoction, claiming to be made exactly after our formula, without spending a cent for advertising, relying upon our propaganda work to sell his substitute, although not the same article as nor equivalent to Sanmetto, from the fact that he would be working in the dark as to the processes in the manufacture of our product. There is no mineral substance in Sanmetto, nor any other ingredient that is detrimental in any way whatsoever....

“OD CHEM. CO.,

“M. Haman, Pres’t.”

THE VALUE OF SANTAL AND SAW PALMETTO

The foregoing warrants the assumption that the active ingredients of the mixture are sandalwood oil and saw palmetto.

There was a period when the internal treatment of gonorrhea had a marked vogue. Balsamic remedies received the approbation of the medical profession as the most specific of internal remedies for this disease. As a representative of this class, sandalwood oil was very highly esteemed and had great popularity. As in other similar instances, this popularity was commercialized and the drug became the basis of many secret or semisecret mixtures, including “specialties” of pharmaceutical houses.

Sabal or saw palmetto is an official drug which at one time was used in genito-urinary affections, but now is seldom used, presumably because it has been found practically worthless. It is not mentioned by most pharmacologists, and those who do mention it regard it as of doubtful value. It is included among the preparations recommended for deletion as given in the report of the Committee on the Pharmacopeia of the American Medical Association (The Journal, Sept. 4, 1909, p. 792).

Even granting that sandalwood oil and saw palmetto do have therapeutic value, no one would think of regarding either or both of these preparations as of use except in inflammatory conditions of the genito-urinary tract, especially gonorrhea.

If one is to believe the advertisements, however, the combination of these drugs in Sanmetto is a wonderful medicine. One might even conclude that there are few conditions in which it cannot be given with profit. For instance:

“In Nervous Diseases, especially Neurasthenic cases with origin in some sexual or genito-urinary disorder, for its action as a vitalizing tonic and reconstructive, restoring nutrition to germ plasm, relieving pathological conditions and for soothing and sustaining the nerves controlling the parts.”

Bear in mind in reading the foregoing statement and the following that we are concerned with two drugs whose effects are exerted on mucous membranes especially of the genito-urinary tract.

“In Gestation Cases, showing tendency to albumin and convulsions, for toning the pelvic organs, clearing up the urine and cleansing the urinary bladder and outlet. In the Lying-in-Room for relieving the affections of urethra and bladder, painful strangury of the urethra and painful micturition due to the pressure of fœtal head upon the neck of the bladder and upon the urethra during labor, and infection, either septic or gonorrheal.”

“In Weakness of the Kidneys, causing loss in tone and general health and Impairment of Eyesight—​for strengthening the kidneys and bladder and toning the nervous system; and also for aiding in the constitutional treatment of Gonorrheal Infection of the Eyes.

“In the treatment of the Prostate, Testes, Mammæ, Ovaries, and Urethra, Kidneys and Bladder, for its soothing, slightly antiseptic, aphrodisiac, toning and restoring action to the mucous membrane and glands. By its use the parts affected in many cases returning to their normal condition.”

While the reference to its aphrodisiac action and to the restoration of parts to the normal may have little interest to physicians, it may be counted on to appeal to the sexual neurasthenic. In premature senility:

“Sanmetto ... is unexcelled as a vitalizing tonic to the withered glands of the reproductive system, promoting their normal secretory activity.”

These claims are not only absurd but also harmful; they tend to perpetuate a hypochondriacal state of mind in the class of patients appealed to—​the sexual neurasthenic. There is, however, a more serious side; the tendency of certain other claims made for the preparation are vicious and dangerous as well as misleading. The advertising claims are likely to induce some physicians—​those who accept advertising “literature” as dependable—​to belittle the importance of serious diseases of the sexual organs and to be content with Sanmetto, which, even if it gave as good results as other balsamic remedies, would be, at best, only a halfway measure. This in an advertising pamphlet physicians are given this advice as to the treatment of gonorrhea.

“To provide the needed rest the patient should be instructed to simply keep the parts clean with warm water for the first week and let the discharge continue until you can control it by internal medication. I wish to emphasize the fact that there is no way that any acutely inflamed portion of the genito-urinary tract can get the rest required so completely as by administration of Sanmetto.... After the acute gonorrhea has begun to subside the Sanmetto should be aided by mild astringent injections.”

If there is any well-established fact in medicine, it is that gonorrhea is a serious disease—​serious alike to the sufferer and to the community—​and one which needs careful attention from the very first. To claim, either directly or by implication, that it can be cured by such a mixture designed to act on the kidneys, bladder and nervous system is false and dangerous doctrine.

The physician who prescribes Sanmetto prescribes a secret medicine for conditions which he is presumably competent to treat with simple remedies of which he knows the origin and action and which he can vary to suit the needs of the individual.

Sanmetto is a secret nostrum the exploitation of which is an invitation to haphazard, uncritical therapy and a menace to public health.​—(From The Journal A. M. A., March 13, 1915.)

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