* U. S. Patent 812,554—the novocain patent—declares that the salt melts at 156 C. Evidently based on this, both the German Pharmacopeia and past editions of New and Nonofficial Remedies give this melting point. Two specimens of German-made novocain obtained from our files, stated to be manufactured by Farbwerke-Hoechst vorm. Meister, Lucius and Bruening, Hoechst a. M., were found to melt, respectively, between 154 and 155 C. and between 153.5 and 154.5 C. when the melting point was determined according to the direction of the U. S. Pharmacopeia, ninth revision. The various specimens examined at that time melted between 153 and 155 C., and it was decided to permit this range.
An examination of some American-made procain-suprarenin tablets was also made. The procain was determined by liberation of the alkaloid with ammonia water, extraction with chloroform, evaporation of the chloroform, dissolving the alkaloid in one hundredth normal sulphuric acid solution and titrating excess acid with one hundredth normal sodium hydroxid solution. The epinephrin was determined according to the method employed by Seidell,[242] with slight modifications. The tablets contained the claimed amounts of ingredients.
THE SYNTHETIC DRUG SITUATION
Before the war, the American physician was literally bombarded with new and wonderful (?) coal-tar synthetics, most of which were originated in Germany. In fact, it seemed that if a by-product in the manufacture of dyes could not be used for a dye per se, then a place might be found for it in the ever increasing lists of medicaments. By clever advertising and propaganda among physicians, an artificial stimulation for coal-tar drugs was created which evidently yielded lucrative financial returns. As a result of the war, it is interesting to observe that of all the synthetic drugs imported into this country from Germany and on which the American patents were controlled by the Germans (up to the time of our entrance into the war), the demand was really sufficient enough to warrant the commercial manufacture of only four of them by American firms. Of course, a larger number of nonpatented drugs, also imported from Germany, are now being made in sufficient quantities in this country; many of the drugs in this class were never patented or are the ones which have survived after the patent had expired, such as acetanilid, acetphenetidin, and acetylsalicylic acid.
In view of the agitation to found an institute for cooperative research as an aid to the American drug industry under the auspices of the American Chemical Society, it will be well for the medical profession to be on its guard against too enthusiastic propaganda on the part of those engaged in the laudable enterprise of promoting American chemical industry. Unless it is, it may be inflicted in the future, as in the past, with a large number of drugs that are either useless, harmful or unessential modifications of well-known pharmaceuticals. It will be well also for the chemists—those engaged in this enterprise—to be sure that the product is of therapeutic value before asking its use as a medicine. The American medical profession has learned that relatively few of the many German synthetics were really valuable or decided improvements over established drugs. If American chemists desire to retain their prestige with the medical profession, they should earnestly endeavor to see that the advantages derived from the war and from such an institute as proposed are not abused in the worthy desire to popularize chemistry both educationally and commercially. They should realize that physicians are in no receptive mood for a flood of synthetics, even though “American-made.”
On the other hand, the constructive possibilities of chemistry in the service of medicine should serve as a stimulus for American research. Notwithstanding all the pharmaceutical shrubbery which Germany sent to us, still it did contain some synthetics that were worth while. As therapeutics has been benefited by these organic chemicals, it is logical to reason by analogy that there remain other synthetics to be discovered which will occupy places of equal distinction in the modern materia medica. For example, vaccines are of undoubted merit in the field of immunology, but their action is, in the end, chemical; as soon as chemical technic is refined by medicochemical research, it is quite possible that a definite chemical agent (synthetic) will supersede the indefinite bacterial vaccine. Obviously the American chemist has the opportunity of showing his resourcefulness in aiding the public health of America and the world. In this connection, a cooperative institute devoted to purely scientific drug research, and governed in such a manner as to inspire confidence in its humanitarianism and unbiased judgment, should serve a most commendable purpose. The hopes of American men of science are for a monumental research institution—cooperative with all the allied professions—and, as the Chicago Chemical Bulletin stated, “Stripped of all professional or commercial pettishness and not dominated by any one group of scientists.”[243]
CONCLUSIONS
As for the results of the work so far, they can be summed up in two sentences.
1. American chemists are producing synthetic drugs formerly controlled by Germany, and thus have declared their independence of German chemicals.
2. Judging from the evidence at hand, we can feel assured that the quality of American synthetics will be second to none.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Sept. 6, 1919.)