RHEUMATISM DRUG

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 150, 11 April 1950, Page 6

RHEUMATISM DRUG

SELECTED PATIENTS In the report which he presented to the Empire Rheumatism Council in London, the chairman, Lord Horder, spoke of the past year as “the year of our greatest hope.” It was a year in which American scientists had discovered the drug Cortisone, with which remarkably beneficial results had been obtained in certain, cases of rheumatoid arthritis. Lord Horder revealed that the council has set up a Cortisone committee because they had been informed by their American colleagues that when the first supplies were sent here they would be among the first to receive a small supply. He thought that supply would arrive next spring. Strict control would be kept over its use, and cases Avould be chosen with great care so that the maximum benefit would accrue. They had also set aside £IOOO for the purchase of Cortisone, but he expected it would be some years before. the drug was available commercially. In a message he sent to the meeting the president of the council, the Duke of Gloucester, called 1949 “an epochmaking year in the history of rheumatology.’.; He was glad to hear that the council had been asked to take a leading part in furthering the development of Cortisone.