EUMICTINE

Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry

The Council has adopted and authorized publication of the report which appears below. This report declares “Eumictine” ineligible for New and Non­official Remedies because (1) it conflicts with Rule 10 in that it is unscientific, (2) it conflicts with Rule 6 in that it is sold under unwarranted therapeutic claims, (3) it conflicts with Rule 4 against indirect advertising to the public in that the name “Eumictine” is blown in the bottle for the obvious purpose of bringing the product to the attention of the public when it is prescribed in the original package, and (4) because the name is thera­peutically suggestive and not in any way descriptive of its composition.

W. A. Puckner, Secretary.

Eumictine is a preparation from the laboratory of Maurice Le Prince, Paris, France, and is marketed in this country by George J. Wallau, Inc., New York. It is claimed that the product is “a balsamo-antiseptic preparation composed of Santalol, Salol, and Hexamethylene-Tetramine, in the form of gluten-coated capsules.” Nowhere in the advertising are the amounts of the ingredients given. According to the American agent, however, “each capsule is supposed to contain 20 centigrams of Santalol, 5 centigrams of Salol, 5 centigrams of Hexamethylene-Tetramine.”

Eumictine is advised “in treating genito-urinary diseases (urethritis, cystitis, prostatitis, pyelitis, etc.).” It is claimed to be “both an antiphlogistic modifying agent, a well-tolerated diuretic” which “may be administered for long periods without ill effects.”

The Council declares Eumictine ineligible for New and Non­official Remedies because it is exploited in conflict with the following rules:

It is unscientific (Rule 10). Eumictine is composed of hexa­methylen­amin, salol and sanalol in fixed proportions. Hexamethylenamin may serve a useful purpose in some forms of infection of the urinary tract, but neither it nor salol is of any considerable value in gonorrhea. It is now known that the balsamic preparations, formerly so widely used, do not have the curative effects in gonorrhea and associated conditions that used to be ascribed to them. To combine three substances, none of which has any distinct therapeutic value in the conditions for which Eumictine is proposed, does not enhance their value. There is nothing original in the combination used in Eumictine, or in the manner of dispensing it.

It is sold under unwarranted therapeutic claims (Rule 6). These claims are made not only for the components of Eumictine but for the combination itself. Though santalol has certain advantages over the somewhat variable oil of santal and other balsamic resins, it is not true that santalol “does not cause congestion of the renal epithelium” or that it does not “produce exanthema as do copaiba, cubebs, and the ordinary santal oil.” It is not true that salol is “devoid of toxicity.” Neither is it correct to say that salol “asepticizes and disinfects the bladder, the prostate and the urethra.” The claim that hexa­methylen­amin “is of value when any acute symptoms or tendency to inflammation subsist” is not justified. The claim that hexa­methylen­amin “renders soluble the uric acid and urates” is also without foundation. The following paragraph is characteristic of the claims made for Eumictine:

“Anti-gonorrhoic by its Santalol, diuretic, urolytic and analgetic by its hexa­methylene­tetramin (Urotropin) antiseptic and antipyretic by its Salol, Eumictine represents a real therapeutic advance in the scientific treatment of diseases of the urinary passages.”

Instead of being “a real therapeutic advance” in the treatment of diseases of the urinary passages, Eumictine presents one of the complex combinations that have long retarded the scientific treatment of these diseases. Eumictine also conflicts with Rules 4 and 8 of the Council.—(From The Journal A. M. A. Feb. 21, 1920.)