Medical Remedies – A Journey

Today, we are so used to popping pills for everything imaginable! Got a headache? Pop a pill. Got heart trouble? Pop a pill. Menopause symptoms? Pop a pill. High blood pressure? High cholesterol? Anxiety? Insomnia? Narcolepsy? Pop a pill, pop a pill, pop a pill! Have you ever stopped to think how we have developed this huge cornucopia of medical miracles? From herbs to antibiotics, it has certainly been an eventful journey. rnEarly drug manufacturers made their own formulations and marketed them under special names. These were known as ‘Patent Medicines’. The term originated in the late 17th century, when elixirs that found favour with royalty were given ‘Letters patent’ allowing the manufacturers to say that their products were endorsed by royalty. The actual patenting process as we know it today did not come into effect until the 1920s. Most of these patent medicines really did not work at all, or if they did, it was through liberal use of ingredients like alcohol and opium. They were called ‘cures’ and pretty much promised to cure all ills of the body. Some of the best sellers of those days were products called ‘Daffy’s Elixir’, ‘Dr. Hooper’s female Pills’, ‘Soothing Baby Syrup’ (this one really did soothe baby, perhaps because it contained opium!), ‘Dr. Bateman’s Pectoral Drops, and the ‘Vegetable Universal Pill’. The products were shrouded with a bit of mystery and exoticism to promote sales. In the US, many of these products were touted as Native American cures. Native Americans were seen as ‘noble savages’ well versed in herbal and natural cures (think tribal shaman or medicine man). A whole range of products were produced, claiming to have Native American roots, such as ‘Kickapoo Indian Sagwa’ (this product had really no connection at all to the Kickapoo tribe), and ‘Dr. Morse’s Indian Root Pills’.rnSince most of these ‘cures’ did not cure anything at all, the US Government stepped in and ordered that they be called ‘remedies’ and not ‘cures’. Most of these cures were downright dangerous since they were liberally laced with opium, heroin, alcohol and other toxic substances. There was no regulation to the production of these remedies. Any doctor, pharmacist or just anybody at all could set up a small manufacturing plant and churn out these so called medical miracles. They could make any claim they liked for their products, including advertising that these remedies could grow hair, ‘treat’ pregnancy, prevent venereal disease and cancer, and cure cholera, epilepsy, mercurial eruptions, paralysis, scarlet fever, epilepsy, and a countless catalogue of human woes. Luckily for us, a few courageous journalists and investigators began to expose these quack remedies. In 1905, Samuel Hopkins Adams published a brilliant article that eventually led to the creation on the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. Slowly, the manufacture and advertising of medicinal products was regulated (and today perhaps even over-regulated). By the 1960s, efficacy as well as safety had to be proved before a drug was allowed on the market. rnHowever, not all patent medicines were phony. In 1853, Charles F. Gerhardt synthesised a primitive form of acetylsalicylic acid, or what we know even today as aspirin. In 1899, the Bayer Company improved on this formulation, and marketed the product as Bayer’s Aspirin. Bayer’s Aspirin has seen us through many headaches, fevers, and inflammation. Now, it can even save your life if used as directed during a heart attack! Whether we like to admit it or not, the patent medicines of old were the precursors to modern pharmaceuticals. Today, we have antibiotics, anti-depressants, anti-fungals, heart meds, cancer meds, immunosuppressives, fertility drugs, erectile dysfunction meds, heart and blood pressure pills, and even pills to stop you from growing bald! I wonder whether our great grandchildren will laugh at our ‘patent remedies’! Actually, even to this day we have our own versions of ‘patent cures’. What do you call supplements that are guaranteed to make you lose weight while you sleep, supplements that promise male enhancement, supplements that promise you shiny hair, glowing skin, and a number of other wonders? All I can say is ‘Buyer Beware’.