The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 2 of 2Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Science
The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 2 of 2
Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Patent medicines
Lest the appearance of this detailed study of secretin, after the
rejection of so-called secretin preparations, should be interpreted
(as manufacturers whose products have been rejected have endeavored to
interpret such action) as a case of first condemning a preparation and
then getting the facts, the Council’s methods, and their application
in this case, may be briefly stated. The Council maintains that,
when a manufacturer places a product on the market, the burden of
proof is on that manufacturer to show that the properties of his
product are in accordance with his claims for it. As stated in the
introduction to N. N. R., “it is ... manifestly impossible for the
Council to investigate the composition of every complex pharmaceutical
mixture, or to check thoroughly every therapeutic claim; it can give
only an unbiased judgment on the available evidence.” Acting on this
principle, the Council examined the claims made for Secretogen, an
alleged secretin product manufactured by the G. W. Carnrick Company.
The conclusion was that these claims were in absolute conflict with the
available evidence as to the action of secretin.
It is not necessary to review this subject again. It will suffice to
state that the claims made for Secretogen rest on two fundamental
propositions: (1) that deficiency of secretin (or, rather, of
prosecretin) in the intestinal mucosa is a factor in gastro-intestinal
diseases; (2) that secretin given by the mouth is absorbed and produces
increased secretion of the pancreatic and intestinal juices and of the
bile.
From an examination of the evidence available, including that
submitted by the manufacturers, the Council concluded: “1. No evidence
has been presented that the absence of secretin is a cause of
gastro-intestinal disease. 2. There is no evidence that secretin in
any form is physiologically active when administered by mouth.” That
these conclusions were justified is shown again by the review given
by Carlson of the literature, much of which was also reviewed in the
Council’s previous report.
Since the claims of the Carnrick Company were not supported by any
satisfactory evidence, no further investigation on the Council’s part
was necessary to warrant rejection of the product. The Council did
not undertake to determine, for instance, whether or not Secretogen
and similar products actually contain secretin; the determination of
this point was immaterial here, in view of the conclusiveness of the
evidence that secretin given by mouth has no physiologic action.
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