NAPHEY’S MEDICATED UTERINE WAFERS
Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
Naphey’s Medicated Uterine Wafers were submitted to the Council by the manufacturers, Naphey & Co., some years ago and were rejected. Naphey & Co. has recently requested reconsideration of the preparation, and has submitted advertising matter, trade packages and sample packages. The label of the trade package contains the following:
“Naphey’s Wafers. For the local treatment of diseases of women, indicated in catarrhal conditions of the vagina, and of the uterine cervix. As a [sic!] adjuvant for the physician to use in carrying out treatment of disease of the uterus.”
“Zinc Sulphate, 33⁄4 gr., Sodium Sulphate, 31⁄2 gr., Sodium Borate, 4 gr., Boric Acid, 3⁄4 gr.”
“Naphey & Co., Warren, Pa., U. S. A.”
“Each box contains 25 wafers, sufficient for three months’ treatment. Price per box, 25c.”
In name, composition, and general appearance of the package, Naphey’s Medicated Uterine Wafers bear a strong resemblance to Micajah’s Medicated Uterine Wafers (The Journal, A. M. A., March 26, 1910, p. 1070). An advertising pamphlet reads:
“In every form of leucorrhea Naphey’s Medicated Uterine Wafers are indicated ...”
“What is true of leucorrhea is also true of all other functional troubles affecting the female genital canal; they are all treated best by astringents and antiseptics. And these, to be effective, must be applied in prolonged contact.”
The implication that all “functional troubles affecting the female genital canal” are best treated by astringent tablets like Naphey’s Medicated Uterine Wafers is an absurdity. The naming of disease conditions on the label, the manifestly unwarranted and exaggerated therapeutic claims, the name, which is non-descriptive of composition but suggestive of use, and the fixed formula, which cannot rationally be expected to give uniformly satisfactory results in the wide range of conditions for which the product is recommended, render Naphey’s Medicated Uterine Wafers ineligible for New and Nonofficial Remedies under Rules 4, 6, 8 and 10.
The report having been sent to Naphey & Co., the manufacturer offered, on condition that the preparation be accepted, to revise the advertising matter in minor particulars, to remove disease names from the trade package and to adopt the name Naphey’s Wafers or Naphey’s Tablets. The Council advised Naphey & Co. that the proposed names do not conform to the requirements for acceptance in New and Nonofficial Remedies because they do not indicate the composition of this pharmaceutical mixture, and moreover, that the routine use of a complex formula such as that of these tablets is irrational.—(From Reports of Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, 1916, p. 66.)