pharmaceutical industry

Medicines of ancient civilizations

The oldest records of medicinal preparations made from plants, animals, or minerals are those of the early Chinese, Hindu, and Mediterranean civilizations. An herbal compendium, said to have been written in the 28th century bc by the legendary emperor Shennong, described the antifever capabilities of a substance known as chang shan (from the plant species Dichroa febrifuga), which has since been shown to contain antimalarial alkaloids (alkaline organic chemicals containing nitrogen). Workers at the school of alchemy that flourished in Alexandria, Egypt, in the 2nd century bc prepared several relatively purified inorganic chemicals, including lead carbonate, arsenic, and mercury. According to De materia medica, written by the Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century ad, verdigris (basic cupric acetate) and cupric sulfate were prescribed as medicinal agents. While attempts were made to use many of the mineral preparations as drugs, most proved to be too toxic to be used in this manner.

Many plant-derived medications employed by the ancients are still in use today. Egyptians treated constipation with senna pods and castor oil and indigestion with peppermint and caraway. Various plants containing digitalis-like compounds (cardiac stimulants) were employed to treat a number of ailments. Ancient Chinese physicians employed ma huang, a plant containing ephedrine, for a variety of purposes. Today ephedrine is used in many pharmaceutical preparations intended for the treatment of cold and allergy symptoms. The Greek physician Galen (c. 130–c. 200 ad) included opium and squill among the drugs in his apothecary shop (pharmacy). Today derivatives of opium alkaloids are widely employed for pain relief, and, while squill was used for a time as a cardiac stimulant, it is better known as a rat poison. Although many of the medicinal preparations used by Galen are obsolete, he made many important conceptual contributions to modern medicine. For example, he was among the first practitioners to insist on purity for drugs. He also recognized the importance of using the right variety and age of botanical specimens to be used in making drugs.

Pharmaceutical science in the 16th and 17th centuries

Pharmaceutical science improved markedly in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1546 the first pharmacopoeia, or collected list of drugs and medicinal chemicals with directions for making pharmaceutical preparations, appeared in Nürnberg, Ger. Previous to this time, medical preparations had varied in concentration and even in constituents. Other pharmacopoeias followed in Basel (1561), Augsburg (1564), and London (1618). The London Pharmacopoeia became mandatory for the whole of England and thus became the first example of a national pharmacopoeia. Another important advance was initiated by Paracelsus, a 16th-century Swiss physician-chemist. He admonished his contemporaries not to use chemistry as it had widely been employed prior to his time in the speculative science of alchemy and the making of gold. Instead, Paracelsus advocated the use of chemistry to study the preparation of medicines.

In London the Society of Apothecaries (pharmacists) was founded in 1617. This marked the emergence of pharmacy as a distinct and separate entity. The separation of apothecaries from grocers was authorized by King James I, who also mandated that only a member of the society could keep an apothecary’s shop and make or sell pharmaceutical preparations. In 1841 the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was founded. This society oversaw the education and training of pharmacists to assure a scientific basis for the profession. Today professional societies around the world play a prominent role in supervising the education and practice of their members.

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In 1783 the English physician and botanist William Withering published his famous monograph on the use of digitalis (an extract from the flowering purple foxglove, Digitalis purpurea). His book, An Account of the Foxglove and Some of Its Medicinal Uses: With Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases, described in detail the use of digitalis preparations and included suggestions as to how their toxicity might be reduced. Plants containing digitalis-like compounds had been employed by ancient Egyptians thousands of years earlier, but their use had been erratic. Withering believed that the primary action of digitalis was on the kidney, thereby preventing dropsy (edema). Later, when it was discovered that water was transported in the circulation with blood, it was found that the primary action of digitalis was to improve cardiac performance, with the reduction in edema resulting from improved cardiovascular function. Nevertheless, the observations in Withering’s monograph led to a more rational and scientifically based use of digitalis and eventually other drugs.