The First Miracle Drugs : How the Sulfa Drugs Transformed Medicine

In the decade from 1935-1945, while the Second World War raged in Europe, a new class of medicines capable of controlling bacterial infections launched a therapeutic revolution that continues today. The new medicines were not penicillin and antibiotics, but sulfonamides, or sulfa drugs. The sulfa drugs preceded penicillin by almost a decade, and during World War II they carried the main therapeutic burden in both military and civilian medicine. Their success stimulated a rapid expansion of research and production in the international pharmaceutical industry, raised expectations of medicine, and accelerated the appearance of new and powerful medicines based on research. The latter development created new regulatory dilemmas and unanticipated therapeutic problems. The sulfa drugs also proved extraordinarily fruitful as starting points for new drugs or classes of drugs, both for bacterial infections and for a number of important non-infectious diseases. This book examines this breakthrough in medicine, pharmacy, and science in three parts. Part I shows that an industrial research setting was crucial to the success of the revolution in therapeutics that emerged from medicinal chemistry. Part II shows how national differences shaped the reception of the sulfa drugs in Germany, France, Britain, and the United States. The author uses press coverage of the day to explore popular perceptions of the dramatic changes taking place in medicine. Part III documents the impact of the sulfa drugs on the American effort in World War II. It also shows how researchers came to an understanding of how the sulfa drugs worked, adding a new theoretical dimension to the science of pharmacology and at the same time providing a basis for the discovery of new medicinal drugs in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. A concluding chapter summarizes the transforming impact of the sulfa drugs on twentieth-century medicine, tracing the therapeutic revolution from the initial breakthrough in the 1930s to the current search for effective treatments for AIDS and the new horizons opened up by the human genome project and stem cell research. Doody Review Services Reviewer: Philip W. Leon, PhD(The Citadel) Description: This is a history of the development and refinement of the chemicals known as the sulfa drugs: sulfanilamide, sulfaguanidine, sulfathiazole, sulfadiazine. The author chronicles the discovery and discoverers of these pre-penicillin drugs that began the therapeutic revolution that led to today's miraculous chemotherapeutic treatments. Purpose: The author builds a strong case for his contention that the introduction of the sulfa drugs set medicine on the path to today's antibiotics, diuretics, and antiretrovirals. Beginning in the 1930s in Germany, the industrialization of drugs by the giant pharmaceutical houses such as I.G. Farbenindustrie constituted a major shift in the way drugs were produced and marketed. He says in his introduction, My aim in this study is to build upon existing scholarship, to extend and revise it with new research and interpretation, and above all, to show how the development of the sulfa drugs resulted from the long process of the industrialization of pharmaceutical innovation and at the same time effected a significant change in the direction of medicine. Audience: Medical historians are the intended audience as are professionals in the chemotherapy industry who would benefit from seeing the hard research and sometimes serendipitous discoveries by scientists working in this field. The author invites other historians to take on similar projects with the newest generations of drugs and with dramatic ongoing research in, for example, stem-cells. He also wants his book to appeal to the public who are the recipients of the efficacies of these drugs, but the typical lay reader might find hard going some of the rare discussions of the structures of chemical compounds. Features: The book's strongest points -- and most enjoyable -- deal with the cultural, political, and economic influences on drug development. We learn that Hitler did not allow his brilliant scientists to leave Germany to accept their Nobel Prizes because he feared that they would not return from Stockholm, taking their knowledge and procedures with them. We learn that the development in the 1930s of Prontosil, the earliest of the sulfonamides, coincided fortuitously with the advent of World War II. These sulfa drugs saved countless lives on both sides during that war. The author provides a valuable discussion of the economic implications of mass manufacturing and marketing of drugs. Assessment: This is the first edition of this book, but the ongoing research in the pharmaceutical world, with its mega-billions of dollars in profits, suggests that subsequent editions will follow. The public, more than any time in history, is becoming an active participant in the chemotherapeutical process. The large pharmaceutical companies speak directly through commercials and print media to drug consumers, encouraging them to act as the manufacturer's advocate: Ask your doctor about product-X. I found the book valuable as an insightful record of the history of the first miracle drugs. In the decade from 1935-1945, while WWII raged in Europe, a new class of medicines capable of controlling bacterial infections launched a therapeutic revolution. This book examines this revolution in medicine, pharmacy and science. It also explores the popular perceptions of the changes in medicine. In the decade from 1935-1945, while the Second World War raged in Europe, a new class of medicines capable of controlling bacterial infections launched a therapeutic revolution that continues today. The new medicines were not penicillin and antibiotics, but sulfonamides, or sulfa drugs. The sulfa drugs preceded penicillin by almost a decade, and during World War II they carried the main therapeutic burden in both military and civilian medicine. Their success stimulated a rapid expansion of research and production in the international pharmaceutical industry, raised expectations of medicine, and accelerated the appearance of new and powerful medicines based on research. The latter development created new regulatory dilemmas and unanticipated therapeutic problems. The sulfa drugs also proved extraordinarily fruitful as starting points for new drugs or classes of drugs, both for bacterial infections and for a number of important non-infectious diseases. This book examines this breakthrough in medicine, pharmacy, and science in three parts. Part I shows that an industrial research setting was crucial to the success of the revolution in therapeutics that emerged from medicinal chemistry. Part II shows how national differences shaped the reception of the sulfa drugs in Germany, France, Britain, and the United States. The author uses press coverage of the day to explore popular perceptions of the dramatic changes taking place in medicine. Part III documents the impact of the sulfa drugs on the American effort in World War II. It also shows how researchers came to an understanding of how the sulfa drugs worked, adding a new theoretical dimension to the science of pharmacology and at the same time providing a basis for the discovery of new medicinal drugs in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. A concluding chapter summarises the transforming impact of the sulfa drugs on twentieth-century medicine, tracing the therapeutic revolution from the initial breakthrough in the 1930s to the current search for effective treatments for AIDS and the new horizons opened up by the human genome project and stem cell research Beginnings A system of invention Prontosil Into the maelstrom Accommodation and survival Pathways of recognition M & B 693 Acclaim and expansion At war Trial by fire A mechanism revealed The sulfa drugs and twentieth-century medicine.