Amongst other wholly extraneous matters, the firm’s “reply” tried to resurrect the pepsin pancreatin controversy. This also has nothing to do with the efficiency or harmlessness of sodium cacodylate. In order to dispose of the matter, however, it may be pointed out that the implications are entirely misleading. The work which is quoted against the Council was undertaken by the Council itself, to clarify obscurities in the older data. The outcome of these new investigations showed the essential correctness of the deductions from the older work, namely, that pancreatin is destroyed by pepsin-hydrochloric acid. Dr. Long’s work to which the firm’s reply evidently refers, showed that under favorable conditions, namely, when protected by an excess of protein, some trypsin may escape destruction in the stomach; but it fully confirmed the original conclusion that pepsin and pancreatin mixtures as ordinarily administered are practically worthless (J. H. Long, Jour. Amer. Pharmaco. Assoc., Sept. 19, 1917).
As regards the editorial on intravenous therapy, a concession may be made the New York Intravenous Laboratory: intravenous injections are no longer quite as “impressive” as in 1916, but that does not alter the fact that they should be used only when a distinct advantage is to be gained.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Aug. 2, 1919)
HORMOTONE AND HORMOTONE WITHOUT POST-PITUITARY
Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry.
“Hormotone,” of the G. W. Carnrick Company, is advertised as “A pluriglandular tonic for asthenic conditions.” “Hormotone Without Post-Pituitary” is recommended for use “in neurasthenic conditions associated with high blood pressure.” These preparations are sold in the form of tablets for oral administration. The Council declares these preparations inadmissible to New and Nonofficial Remedies because: (1) Their composition is semisecret (Rule 1); (2) the therapeutic claims are unwarranted (Rule 6); (3) they are sold under names not descriptive of their composition but suggestive of indiscriminate use as “tonics” (Rule 8); (4) in the light of our present knowledge the routine administration of polyglandular mixtures is irrational (Rule 10). In explanation of this action, the Council authorized publication of the report which appears below.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
Each tablet of “Hormotone” (G. W. Carnrick Co., New York City) is said to contain 1⁄10 grain of desiccated thyroid and 1⁄20 grain of entire pituitary, together with the hormones of the ovary and testes—the amounts and the form in which the latter are supposed to be present are not given. From this it will be seen that the only definite information given to the medical profession regarding the composition of Hormotone is that it is a weak thyroid and a still weaker pituitary preparation.
What results can be anticipated from one or two tablets three times daily (the recommended dose of Hormotone) each containing 1⁄10 grain of thyroid and 1⁄20 grain entire pituitary? Such doses of thyroid may, of course, have a beneficial action in a limited number of cases of myxedema and cretinism. An extract of the posterior lobe of the pituitary (Liquor Hypophysis, U. S. P., for example) will, when injected subcutaneously or intramuscularly, have a pronounced effect on the parturient uterus; its action on certain other forms of smooth muscle will be much less certain. But the oral administration (for which Hormotone is recommended) of the posterior lobe of the pituitary has not been shown to have any such effect. The use of the anterior lobe in doses of 1 to 4 grains (doses very many times larger than those recommended for the entire gland in Hormotone) is in the experimental stage and its only probable value seems to be in those cases of known gland deficiency.