Patent medicines

From Drug Rehab Wiki

Patent medicines usually refer to hundreds of drugs sold over-the-counter during the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States and Great Britain. The word comes from the British term "letters patent," which was granted to new inventions by the British crown.

There were literally hundreds of patent medicines for common conditions such as menstrual difficulties, insomnia, nervousness, coughs, flu, colds, allergies, and weight loss. The mail order companies of Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward featured many pages of patent medicines, and they were also widely advertised in newspapers and magazines. Many contained dangerous, addictive substances such as cocaine, morphine, heroin, and chloral hydrate, and/or large amounts of alcohol and caffeine.

In the early 1900s, governments began requiring the companies to better label the products and to list ingredients. The regulations kept becoming stronger and eventually it became illegal to use certain ingredients in any medicines available without prescription.

Today there are still many patent medicines sold, but they usually bear labels underneath their claims to remedy health problems. Such a label says, "This statement has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease."

Patent medicines are still widely popular in other countries, especially China.