Nothing illustrates this process more clearly than the decision made by organized medicine and pharmaceutical companies in 1905 that determined the character of advertising to physicians for most of the twentieth century. Underlying the pivotal event of 1905 was the competition between "patent medicines" and "ethical drugs." Patent medicines, or "nostrums," had secret formulas and registered tradenames; the scientifically oriented "ethical" revealed their ingredients. During the late 1800's, these two classes of drugs existed on an equal footing. The manufacturers of both classes advertised to physicians and also employed sales staffs to call on doctors and pharmacists. However, patent medicines also advertised heavily to the public. The American Medical Association was opposed to nostrums. AMA opposition was based in part on the patent medicine companies' practice of attacking the medical profession as a commercial conspiracy and touting their products as a substitute for medical care. But, in the early 1900's American medicine was not well organized and the education of doctors was uneven, so the AMA made little headway in its campaign against patent medicines. Physicians, in fact, were part of the problem. The poorly educated doctors of the day had contributed to the patent medicine boom in the late nineteenth century by prescribing them in great quantities for their patients. By 1905, however, with an assist from the muckraking journalists of the period who revealed the deceit and real dangers of patent medicines, the AMA began to make progress. The AMA Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry was established that year and began setting standards for drugs. The council's publication New and Non-Official Remedies soon became the Bible on drugs for physicians, and medical publications like The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) used it in deciding whether to accept advertising on a product.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDMwNDAx