Humanity has long been looking for new means of treating diseases. Today, drugs are thoroughly tested in a clinical setting, tested on animals, then on volunteers, and only then go on sale. Alas, sometimes the consequences of taking the "new miracle remedy" make themselves felt many years later, when millions of people have already tried it.
Delicious child killer
Sulfanilamide was used to treat streptococcal infection even after the British bacteriologist Alexander Fleming isolated penicillin from molds in 1928.
Sulfanilamide was safe and, unlike antibiotics, did not kill beneficial microorganisms along with pathogens.
True, this bitter drug had a minus: it practically did not dissolve in water, and small children categorically refused to take it.
In 1937, an employee at SE Massengill discovered that sulfanilamide reacted well with diethylene glycol. The laboratory tested a new remedy called "sulfanilamide elixir" and found its properties and taste to be quite satisfactory.
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After that, the new drug went into production. Then the company's managers sent out 330 gallons (about 1500 liters) of medicine to all pharmacies in the country …
Chemists then did not know that diethylene glycol is a rather strong poison (today it is part of antifreeze and brake fluid).
For some individuals, however, in microscopic doses, it is harmless, but someone can easily be sent to the next world.
In the very first days after it went on sale, more than 100 people, mostly children, died from the "elixir of sulfonamide". The drug was withdrawn from the market with great difficulty, and control over the drug market was tightened in the United States.
Thalidomide tragedy
In 1954, the German company Chemie Grunenthal developed a drug called thalidomide. The drug has successfully passed the test on mice, and then on volunteers. They claimed that after using thalidomide, they plunged into deep natural sleep.
The drug quickly gained popularity as a first-class sleeping pill, moreover, as its creators assured, it was absolutely harmless. Soon, thalidomide became the top-selling drug, second only to aspirin. It has been accepted by millions of people around the world.
And only in 1961 it became clear that if the drug was used by pregnant women, then with a high degree of probability they gave birth to children without limbs. In just a few years, 12 thousand babies with congenital deformities were born. 5 thousand of them survived, being crippled for life.
In fairness, we note that thalidomide is used to treat some diseases (for example, leprosy) today, but it is categorically contraindicated for pregnant women or ladies who, in principle, are going to give birth. And even men who use the drug are not allowed to donate blood, sperm and organs.
To the delight of the addict
Methaqualone was developed in 1951 as a substitute for barbiturates to aid withdrawal addicts. After taking the drug, the person fell into deep sleep for 6-8 hours. However, soon methaqualone really replaced barbiturates, becoming … a fashionable club drug. Young people took it in combination with alcohol or marijuana. Methaqualone was very addictive and overdose was extremely dangerous.
After the drug sent to the next world about 360 people, in the early 1970s it was banned in the United States and most Western European countries.
However, in a number of countries, albeit under different names, methaqualone is still very popular. In particular, in Russia it is known as dormigen or dormitil.
The error came out …
Isoproterenol aerosol obtained in 1938 is still used to treat patients with bronchial asthma. However, in the leading world powers back in 1973, this drug was withdrawn from the market after the tragedy in Britain. The dosage for children was incorrectly indicated in the products of one of the drug manufacturers. As a result, more than 3,500 asthmatic babies died after taking the aerosol.
In the course of in-depth research, it turned out that the drug generally has a fairly large number of harmful side effects. Therefore, in the civilized world, this drug is prohibited, which does not prevent some pharmaceutical companies from producing it and selling it to third world countries. Who will count the victims there?
Core's last chance
In the 1980s, flecainide appeared on the US market for the treatment of coronary heart disease. The medicine passed all tests and was considered absolutely safe.
Nine years later, flecainide accounted for 20% of the arrhythmia drug market. It was then that thunder struck. It turned out that the number of deaths from arrhythmias among those who took flecainide was higher than the number of those who recovered!
As a result, the drug was withdrawn from the market. However, by that time, the number of cores for the death of which flecainide can be indirectly blamed amounted to more than 1.5 million people! By the way, now derivatives of this drug are still sometimes prescribed by doctors, including Russian ones. But they are for extremely sick people. Probably, according to the principle "It won't get worse, but what if you're lucky!"
Hair dryer - want to lose weight?
Fenfluramine, better known as fen-phen, suppresses appetite in patients and therefore has been prescribed by doctors in various countries for many years as a means of losing weight. But in the late 1990s, a scandal erupted - scientists found that the drug in about 30% of patients causes negative side effects: high blood pressure in the lungs, dysfunction of the heart valves, and so on.
From the consequences of taking fen-fen, according to various sources, from 360 to 720 thousand people suffered, many of whom died. The drug was withdrawn from the market and banned in a number of countries, including Russia. However, among obese people, it is still popular: a hairdryer, despite the possible consequences, is bought over the Internet.
Loss of control
The appearance of the drug "Prozac" in the 1980s on the world markets made a splash. It seemed like this was it; people have finally learned how to treat depression. Indeed, after taking the pill, the patients' mood improves and, as a result, their working capacity.
However, a couple of decades later it turned out that in every 25th patient taking Prozac caused bouts of uncontrollable rage. What's more, a person who uses the drug on a regular basis is twice as likely to commit suicide. Almost all the criminals who carried out mass shootings in schools and universities in the United States, and then committed suicide, sat tightly on the Prozac.
Since 2004, the use of this drug has been restricted in almost all countries. Including because, as it turned out, it is capable of causing suffocation in children, whose mothers abused "Prozac". In Russia, this drug can be bought over the Internet without any problems. Delivered directly to your home …
Andrey LESHUKONSKY