Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry

The following report was adopted by the Council and its publication authorized.

W. A. Puckner, Secretary.

About ten years ago the M. J. Breitenbach Company circulated what pretended to be an abstract of the report of a government commission for the investigation of the anemia then prevalent in Porto Rico. The company asserted that “this report alone would suffice to establish Pepto-Mangan at once as the foremost hematinic known.” Examination of the official report of the commission[67] revealed the fact that the administration of iron in hookworm anemia was considered of secondary importance, and that of the various preparations of iron, Blaud’s pill was found to be more efficient than Pepto-Mangan (Gude). A protest[68] was made at this time by the commission against the unwarranted use of its report by the Breitenbach Company.

Later the Breitenbach Company sent out a report pretending to prove that at the Infants Hospital, Randall’s Island, New York City, Pepto-Mangan (Gude) had been found a most superior preparation in the treatment of infantile anemia. Inspection of the hospital records and daily charts of the cases disclosed[69] a remarkable disparity between the claims of the Pepto-Mangan pamphlet and the real results of treatment. And so here, also, as well as in the Porto Rico commission’s report the trials, selected by the Breitenbach Company prove the limitations and non-superiority of Pepto-Mangan.

The preceding false reports, though no longer circulated, have never been definitely withdrawn and while it is now generally conceded that the good results in anemia are obtained by the administration of the various simple inorganic iron preparations the Breitenbach Company still attempts to convey the impression that Pepto-Mangan (Gude) is of most superior efficacy. Thus the present Pepto-Mangan circular attempts to discredit by obsolete and absurd or untrue statements the various preparations of iron which are in general use and to carry the impression that only iron and manganese, in the particular form and proportion in which they are contained in Pepto-Mangan—​namely, 3 parts Fe to 1 part Mn—are useful for the treatment of anemia, chlorosis, etc. Thus contrary to general conceptions, the impression is given that the now generally accepted course of chlorosis is due to the three varieties of insufficiency of certain blood elements: (1) insufficiency of manganese, (2) insufficiency of iron, (3) insufficiency of iron and manganese; and that the administration of iron often fails because manganese is not supplied to the system at the same time and in sufficient amounts. The following statement is made:

“Doctor:

“If you have a case of ANAEMIA, CHLOROSIS, or AMENORRHOEA, that shows no visible sign of improvement, and you have exhausted the entire list of Nauseating Iron preparations with little or no effect, it is because the blood is deficient in that essential oxidizing constituent, MANGANESE, in a soluble, readily assimilable form, the best being in combination with iron.”

Another extravagant claim:

“Usually after taking it for a week its restorative influence on the functions of the stomach is felt; appetite reappears, and the general health is improved by the increase in bodily warmth, an effect directly due to manganese.”