“CINCHOPHEN”: FORMERLY “ATOPHAN”

It will be remembered that the Federal Trade Commission adopted the names arsphenamin and neo­arsphenamin for the drugs first introduced as “salvarsan” and “neosalvarsan,” respectively; the terms barbital and barbital sodium for the substances first introduced as “veronal” and “veronal sodium,” and the word procain as the name for the compound first marketed as “novocain.” In issuing licenses for the use of the patents on these drugs, the commission stipulated that the drugs should be sold under the new American title unless the firm desired to use a new trade designation, in which case the titles chosen by the commission should be given equal prominence. The Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry has cooperated with the Federal Trade Commission and has adopted the new names as the descriptive names which appear in New and Non­official Remedies. The Chemical Foundation, Inc., which has purchased some 4,500 German-owned patents, many of them for synthetic drugs, proposes to continue the wise policy of the Federal Trade Commission by requiring that those who receive licenses for the use of patents for synthetic drugs must use a common designation for each drug selected by the foundation. “Cinchophen” has been selected as the designation for the substance introduced as “atophan” (also described in the U. S. Pharmacopeia under “phenyl­cinchoninic acid”). In consideration of this action on the part of the Chemical Foundation, and also because physicians found it difficult to use the pharmacopeia name “phenyl­cinchoninic acid,” the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry has recognized the contracted term “cinchophen” as a name for the drug introduced as “atophan.” It is hoped that physicians will support this simplified and nonproprietary nomenclature in the same spirit with which they adopted the terms “arsphenamin,” “barbital” and “procain.”—(Editorial from The Journal A.M.A., Aug. 9, 1919.)