It is well known that considerable variation exists in the quality and activity of the medicinal chemicals of commerce.
The need for reliable Medicinal Chemicals
Purity and reliability are matters of the utmost importance to prescriber, dispenser and patient alike, and every opportunity should therefore be taken to ensure the supply of only those chemicals and galenicals which are known to be thoroughly pure and trustworthy.
In order that goods answering to this description in the highest sense may be at the disposal of the profession, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. manufacture and issue a series of fine chemicals, alkaloids, etc., to which they have recently added a series of standardised liquid and granular extracts and concentrated tinctures, under the distinctive title of the ‘Wellcome’ Brand.
Standardised galenicals
The advantages of galenicals containing a definite proportion of active principle over those that vary in strength with every sample of drug employed are now fully recognised, and several such have been admitted into the Pharmacopœia. With regard to galenicals, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. have extended the standardisation by total alkaloid assay, and have never adopted the basis of total extractive, regarding it as misleading and useless. Total alkaloid estimations have been adopted in so far as they secured definite standards of truly representative activity, but the firm has not been content to rely on this means alone. As the result of extensive research, they are able to offer many other standardised preparations in addition to the official ones. Physiological standards Those galenicals which are known to be extremely variable in their character and action, and by their nature do not admit of exact control by chemical means, have been the subject of physiological research. Not being satisfied with the methods hitherto available, special processes of standardisation have been developed which give more complete control over the finished products. This subject is still one of continuous research.
The standards adopted have been chosen after the examination of very many different samples of drugs, and represent the average of the amounts of active principle found in preparations made from good specimens. Thus the dose remains the same as that of the older preparation, but the prescriber is certain of always obtaining the proper effect instead of one varying from time to time with the particular batch of extract of tincture used, and the advantage of this certainty, both to the reputation of the prescriber and the health of the patient, can hardly be over-estimated.
Prolonged scientific research
To attain the highest standard in these as in other preparations for medicinal use, extensive scientific research and many technical experiments have been made. Long-continued researches in the Wellcome Chemical and Physiological Research Laboratories led to the issue of ‘Hemisine,’ a physiologically standardised product which presents the active principle of the medulla of the supra-renal gland in a dry, soluble state. It is perfectly stable in all climates, and permits of the instant preparation of fresh reliable solutions possessing the characteristic hæmostatic and other properties of the supra-renal gland. Similarly, as the result of researches carried out at the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories, crystalline salts of a specific alkaloid, which produces the characteristic effects of ergot on the blood-pressure and the uterus, have been obtained in a state of chemical purity. ‘Ergotoxine’ To this alkaloid the scientific name “Ergotoxine” has been given. In ‘Ernutin,’ Burroughs Wellcome & Co. are enabled to present a preparation of uniform potency, containing the specific active therapeutic principles of ergot, chief of which is the alkaloid ergotoxine, in a state of purity which up to the present has never been approached. It is physiologically standardised by observation of its effects on the vaso-motor functions of the sympathetic nervous system.
Aconitine