PROPRIETARY MEDICINES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 90, 2 September 1912, Page 7

PROPRIETARY MEDICINES

PROFITS OX SOME CURES. Mr. E. F. Harrison, who was requested "by the British Medical Association to make the analysis of proprietary medicines which appear in the books entitled "Secret Remedies' 'and "More Secret Remedies," was examined recently by the Select Committee of the House of Commons who are enquiring into the law relating to the sale and advertising of patent and proprietary medicine®. Sir llcnry Norman presided. The witness said that he had had occasion, in drawing up the reports embodied in the books mentioned, to study somewhat closely the advertising and methods of sale of proprietary medicines, and during 28 years' pharmaceutical and chemical experience lie had had to consider such medicines from many points of view. It was necessary to distinguish between different classes of proprietary medicines. In the first place, there was a large number of such medicines which were not secret medicines, and these might be divided into three classes. First, there were new chemical substances, usually prepared by a patented process and sold under a protected trade mark. During the term of the patent such a medicine was the property of one person or firm; but as soon as the patent expired other firms manufactured it and sold it under other names, and in some eases the medicine received otlicial recognition mid was included in the British Pharmacopoeia. The list of medicines had h.'en permanently enriched by cert:!in proprietary articles. The number of proprietary medicines which consisted of new chemical substances was very large, and only a small proportion of them survived the practical trials which they received. Another class comprised proprietary, but non-secret, medicines consisting of new combinations of well-known drugs. The maker's secret lay in using the ingredients in certain proportions or with subsidiary substances rendering the compound more palatable or more remedial in action. In some eases the essentials of the formulae were disclosed, so that medical I men and pharmacists knew well enough J what the medicines contained. Other j manufacturers soon got to know of what such medicines were made and the exact | proportions of their ingredients, and pro- I duecd articles which might or might not j be as good as the original products. In spite of that, the original preparation nearly always held its own in regard to sales, although the prices charged for them were often three or four times as much as the eost of similar preparations included in the British Pharmacopoeia. That circumstance might be due to the name of the. original preparation and to advertising it, and to the fact that it was first in the field. Very often, too, such a preparation possessed some particular characteristic, some particular balance of the constituents, or better means of composition. In another class of proprietary medicines the full formula, was disclosed except some trivial detail, and the maker's rights were secured by the right of a registered trade mark—such, for example, as the name "tabloids." Several of the medicines m all of the three classes which 'he had mentioned had an enormous sale, and were highly remunerative to their proprietors. It was evident, therefore, that secrecy in regard to the essential ingredients of the preparations was not a necessary condition of the commercial success of such medicines. SECRET REMEDIES. Another large class of proprietary medicines was that of which the composition was secret, or nearly so. No information, or very little, was given by those who manufactured these medicines. One characteristic common to them all was that a patient wan left to diagnose his own complaint, aided by such inI formation as was supplied in the adver- ' tisements of the medicines. That in--1 formation was unskilled, interested, biased, and usually misleading. There were few mlvertisemcnts of proprietary medicines in which considerable misrepresentations were not made. It was almost impossible for the proprietor of a preparation to secure a market for it unli'.-.s he made exaggerated claims, a»d even in respect of preparations which were satisfactory similar methods of advertising were forced upon the proprietors by competition. The composition of proprietary preparations might be altered from time to time intentionally or by mischance; and a danger might arise by reason of a person consuming a drug of greater strength than that to which he had been accustomed. The chairman read an advertisement of a medicine which it was claimed would cure insanity, smallpox, diphtheria and many other diseases. Mr. Harrison said that such a claim was ridiculous. In the present state of the law there was nothing to prevent a person without any medical or pharmaceutical knowledge from making a prcparalion of worthless or harmful drugs, advertising it widely, guaranteeing it to cure, and selling it at a price quite out of any reasonable proportion to its cost. He mentioned instances in which £2 Ids was charged for a preparation of which the cost was 2Vod. 13s for another preparation of which the estimated cost was 3d. -and lis for another the ingredients of which cost 3d. In a particular preparation of American origin not one of five drugs which were mentioned on the label could be detected by analysis.

Replying to Sir "Philip Magnus, Mr. Harrison said lie would not suggest tluit the sale of secret remedies should be prohibited altogether by legislation. Legislation should be directed to making impossible the present gross abuses, without interfering with the better class of proprietary medicines. It should be wade compulsory to declare on the labels the names of all the principal ingredients which were relied upon for medicinal effect, and certain ingredients should have their quantities as well as their presence disclosed on. the label. In any case in which a false statement was deliberately made, a prosecution should be intsitutcd.