GUAIODINE
Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
The following report on Guaiodine, marketed by the Intravenous Products Company, Denver, has been adopted by the Council and its publication authorized.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
A referee of the Committee on Pharmacology, in submitting to the Council a report from the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory on Guaiodine, advises that the Laboratory’s examination shows that instead of containing free “colloidal” iodin as claimed, the preparation is essentially an iodated fatty oil, containing only combined iodin. Equally misleading, in view of the Laboratory’s findings, are the implied claims that the antiseptic action of Guaiodine corresponds to that of free iodin.
Guaiodine is advertised mainly for the treatment of gonorrhea. While it may be true that the guaiacol contained in Guaiodine has some beneficial effect, especially when preceded by potassium permanganate irrigation as advised, the advertised claim that “Guaiodine acts as a specific for gonorrhea in a majority of cases” is utterly false.
The “case records” offered to establish the therapeutic value of Guaiodine are in themselves sufficient to condemn the “evidence.” The following are fair samples:
“The second boy came a day or so later with a slight discharge with the characteristic burning and itching, and with symptoms of a beginning gonorrhea, and judging from the source of the infection, it was believed to be so. Two injections of Guaiodine were given when the discharge ceased.”
“I have several cases that were completely cured in a very short time. I note this, that the first dose causes a cessation of the discharge and the second seems to increase the flow, but the color is changed. I give three doses, and then use a mild wash, and in ten days they are well. I am very pleased with this preparation and very truly believe that it is the best there is to date for the positive cure of gonorrhea.”
REPORT OF THE CHEMICAL LABORATORY
Guaiodine is manufactured by the Intravenous Products Company, Denver, Colorado. The “literature” which accompanies the product describes Guaiodine as:
“... an electro-chemically prepared iodin, suspended in oil, containing iodin, the same strength as the U. S. P. tincture of iodin, or 7 per cent., together with a therapeutic dose of guaiacol.”
The Intravenous Products Company claims that Guaiodine is made by an “electro-chemical process of preparing colloidal iodine,” discovered by one E. B. Page, and that by this process the tendency of iodin to produce iodism has been “overcome.” It is said to be “pre-eminently an antiseptic and germicide.” Guaiodine is a dark brown, oily liquid with a specific gravity of 0.9845 at 15.6 C. and an odor suggestive of guaiacol. Its solubilities were those of a fat. Free iodin was absent in the recently purchased specimen (traces were present in an older one). Steam distillation indicated that the product consisted of volatile and nonvolatile constituents. The volatile matter was concluded to consist, in the main, of guaiacol or some guaiacol-like body, and the nonvolatile matter to be an iodized fatty oil. Quantitative determinations indicated that Guaiodine contained about 7.25 per cent. of iodin in combination, and that it is composed approximately of 3 per cent. volatile matter and 97 per cent. nonvolatile matter. Hence Guaiodine appears to be an iodized fatty oil to which a small amount of guaiacol or some guaiacol-like substance has been added.
THE COUNCIL’S ACTION
On the recommendation of the referee, the Council voted that Guaiodine be declared inadmissible to New and Nonofficial Remedies because of false statements as to composition and action.—(From The Journal A. M. A., April 6, 1918.)