The following report explaining the omission from New and Nonofficial Remedies of Liquor Santaiva, S. & D., has been authorized for publication.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
So far the Council has applied Rule 10 concerning the recognition of mixtures with the greatest leniency compatible with consistency. When there has been a reasonable doubt concerning the value of a mixture, it has frequently directed that Rule 10 should not apply, pending further clinical trial of such mixture.
In no instance has subsequent experience shown that a strict interpretation of the rule would have worked hardship or injustice. The Council feels that there is no longer any warrant for the admission of complex mixtures to New and Nonofficial Remedies or for the retention of any that have been admitted, unless definite evidence of the therapeutic value of such combinations is available.
The Council being engaged in the annual revision of New and Nonofficial Remedies, the referee in charge of santal preparations reported that the three year period of acceptance had expired for Liquor Santaiva (Sharp & Dohme).
The referee held that Liquor Santaiva, S. & D., declared to be a solution of santal oil and copaiba with aromatic oils, in a mixture of alcohol and water, is plainly in conflict with the current interpretation of Rule 10, because there was no sound evidence to indicate that any useful end is gained by the simultaneous administration of santal oil and copaiba in any proportion, and that so, of course, there is no evidence of the special advantage in the fixed proportions represented by the mixture. He pointed out that the formula is essentially a survival of the discredited shotgun gonorrhea mixtures and therefore recommended that its acceptance be not continued.
The Council agreed to the recommendation of the referee and directed that Liquor Santaiva, S. & D., be omitted from New and Nonofficial Remedies.—(From Reports of Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, 1918, p. 66)