Word: chloromycetin
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Despite the conspicuousness of the warnings, said Dr. Dameshek, there is no evidence that prescribing physicians pay much heed. Yet Dr. Best was opposed to letting any Government agency decide what are the legitimate uses of Chloromycetin, arguing that this would infringe upon the doctor's right to treat his patient any way he thinks best. Dr. Dameshek reluctantly conceded that governmental restriction might be necessary. Whether the Government already has the right to impose restrictions is a matter of dispute within the Food and Drug Administration. So far, the faction which holds that FDA can only give information...
Typhoid & Typhus. Chloromycetin also saves lives, and in some cases when no other drug is likely to do so. How many? Most medical opinion holds that Chloromycetin is just about the best drug against psittacosis ("parrot fever"), of which there has been a recent median of 60 U.S. cases a year; against typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, a total of 484 cases; murine typhus, 33 cases; Rocky Mountain spotted fever, 263 cases; one form of meningitis caused by Hemophilus bacilli, exact number of cases not known, but probably less than...
Although the diseases against which Chloromycetin is clearly superior are far more common in tropical and underdeveloped countries than in the U.S., most of Parke, Davis' huge sales of the antibiotic (up to $86 million in 1960, $72 million in 1966) have been in domestic prescriptions. For what? Far too often, testified Dr. Best, for the common cold and similar viral infections (for which no drug is of any use), and against many bacterial infections for which safer drugs are just as effective. Dr. Dameshek added acne to the list of conditions for which Chloromycetin should not be prescribed...
...warnings about how not to use it. With every package goes a leaflet carrying the same warnings. They are reprinted in the manual that doctors keep on their desks. Last week Parke, Davis spokesmen added that their representatives urge doctors to report any adverse reactions in patients taking Chloromycetin. They point out that some such reactions are associated with any potent drug, and they believe that the choice of medication should be left to the physician...
Doctors' journals carry frequent accounts of severe anemia and deaths associated with Chloromycetin. A fatality rate of 58% has been reported among newborn infants treated for pneumonia or diarrhea. Also widely reported was a judgment of $180,000 against Parke, Davis in the case of a California woman who died seven years after receiving Chloromycetin...