What event occured that though sad gave new strength to the recently formed FDA?

rightiam

could it be the 9/11 attacks? Oct 01 07, 7:39 PM

star_gazer

Sorry not correct, remember the FDA stands for the Food and Drug Administration. Oct 01 07, 7:50 PM

MonkeyOnALeash

Might this be what you seek??? "FDA Approves First Drug for SAD Wellbutrin XL Approved for Seasonal Affective Disorder" http://www.webmd.com/news/20060612/fda-approves-first-drug-for-sad Wellbutrin was a drug approved in 1985 and finally approved for depressive disorders in 2005. "Initially researched and marketed as an antidepressant, bupropion was subsequently found to be effective as a smoking cessation aid. In 2006 it was the fourth-most prescribed antidepressant in the United States retail market, with more than 21 million prescriptions." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion Oct 01 07, 8:47 PM

queproblema

That's amusing, Monkey, but I don't think Star was punning. A sad event that occurred in 1937, ten years after the Food, Drug, and Insecticide organization was formed and seven years after it was officially renamed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was the "Elixir Sulfanilamide tragedy," causing the death of over a hundred people. The government responded with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). "The new law significantly increased Federal regulatory authority over drugs by mandating a pre-market review of the safety of all new drugs,..." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_Administration#Early_history Oct 01 07, 9:13 PM

McGruff

A little more about it. I was curious to know what the drug was being prescribed for. Sulfanilamide, a drug used to treat streptococcal infections, had been shown to have dramatic curative effects and had been used safely for some time in tablet and powder form. In June 1937, however, a salesman for the S.E. Massengill Co., in Bristol, Tenn., reported a demand in the southern states for the drug in liquid form. The company's chief chemist and pharmacist, Harold Cole Watkins, experimented and found that sulfanilamide would dissolve in diethylene glycol. The company control lab tested the mixture for flavor, appearance, and fragrance and found it satisfactory. Immediately, the company compounded a quantity of the elixir and sent shipments--633 of them--all over the country. The new formulation had not been tested for toxicity. At the time the food and drugs law did not require that safety studies be done on new drugs. Selling toxic drugs was, undoubtedly, bad for business and could damage a firm's reputation, but it was not illegal. Because no pharmacological studies had been done on the new sulfanilamide preparation, Watkins failed to note one characteristic of the solution. Diethylene glycol, a chemical normally used as an antifreeze, is a deadly poison. The first shipments were sent out in early September. On October 11, the American Medical Association (AMA) received reports from physicians in Tulsa, Okla., that an unfamiliar sulfanilamide compound was responsible for a number of deaths. The AMA asked for samples of the drug and then wired the Massengill Co., requesting the composition of the compound. The AMA laboratory isolated diethylene glycol as the toxic ingredient and immediately issued a warning, through newspapers and radio, that Elixir Sulfanilamide was toxic and deadly. http://www.fda.gov/oc/history/elixir.html Oct 01 07, 10:32 PM