DIAL “CIBA”
Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
Dial “Ciba” has not been accepted for “New and Nonofficial Remedies” because, as the report which follows shows, unwarranted claims are made for the product. It is a definite new chemical compound which might be made eligible for N. N. R. if misleading therapeutic claims were eliminated. The Council directed that Dial “Ciba” be included with Articles Described but Not Accepted, so that physicians might be informed with regard to its character and properties.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
Dial “Ciba” is a hypnotic manufactured by the Society of Chemical Industry of Basle, Switzerland, and is sold in the United States by A. Klipstein and Company, Inc., New York. Chemically, Dial “Ciba” is diallylbarbituric acid and is, therefore, closely related to diethylbarbituric acid or barbital (“veronal”).
The claims made for Dial “Ciba” are (1), that the “allyl” group in its molecule makes it more readily decomposed by oxidizing agents than barbital, which contains the “ethyl” group; (2) that because of this ease of oxidation, it is more readily decomposed in the body and more rapidly and completely eliminated, and (3) that because of its alleged rapid elimination, it is devoid of the after effects of barbital and other hypnotics.
The Council took up the substance in February, 1918, and referred the matter to the referee in charge of barbital preparations. The referee considered unwarranted the claim that Dial “Ciba” did not have the after-effects of other hypnotics due to its alleged total decomposition in the body. The American agents, A. Klipstein and Company, were informed of the referee’s objections. Their attention was also called to the fact that, notwithstanding the claimed absence of after-effects in one part of the advertising, other parts of the same advertising admitted certain post-hypnotic effects of the product. It was pointed out also that while it was claimed in one of the advertising circulars that lowering of the blood pressure is never observed after administration of Dial “Ciba,” yet two of the authors quoted in the same circular definitely stated that a lowering of the blood pressure followed even small doses of the drug and these authors warn against this very danger in certain conditions.
A year later, a circular letter sent out by A. Klipstein and Company reiterated the claim that the asserted decomposition of Dial “Ciba” in the body prevents after-effects, the drug being still contrasted with barbital (“veronal”). In view of the reiteration of this highly improbable claim, the referee undertook to study the comparative action of Dial “Ciba” as compared with other hypnotics. It was found that the actions of Dial “Ciba” are not distinguishable, qualitatively, from those of barbital, there being no perceptible difference in the after-effects or in the nature of the side actions. In toxic doses, both caused profound depression with the temperature falling to that of the room (or about one degree above), the respiration being extraordinarily slow and shallow as one would expect with lowering of the temperature. There were also the same evidences of nausea that are so frequently seen after toxic doses of the various hypnotics of this group. In view of these results, the Council declared that it is unwarranted to claim freedom from after-effects for Dial “Ciba.”
The Council held that the following statement is unwarranted:
“The therapeutic field for Dial ‘Ciba,’ as shown by tests on rabbits, is just as broad as the field for Diethylbarbituric Acid.”