NO CURE YET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27291, 18 January 1950, Page 6

NO CURE YET

THE COMMON COLD SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT CLAIMED DENIAL BY CHEMIST The age-old search for a cure for the common cold has not yet succeeded in spite of reports from overseas about a spectacular new treatment. The treatment—three green pills containing Anthisan or Benadryl —is claimed to cure a cold in one day. This claim is described by the president of the New Zealand Pharmacy Board, Mr C. N. Bell, as ridiculous. “The drugs cannot cure a cold,” he said. They were used for the relief of hay fever and types of asthma, and were possibly dangerous if used without proper care. A warning against the careless use of the drugs was contained in a recent issue of the Medical Journal, commented Dr E. F. D’Ath, professor of pathology at the Gtago Medical School. The preparation should be taken only under medical advice and could have undesirable repercussions if improperly used. , The treatment is not sold in Britain as a cold cure. It is an “ ethical product, and the makers do not advertise its uses. But publicity has resulted in a large demand for the drug as a cold cure. The British product, Anthisan, is practically the same as the American, Benadryl—both “ ethical ” drugs. In the United States, however, a firm is also producing the drug under the name of “Resitab” and it is not an “ethical product. It is advertised in the American newspapers as “Resistab, kills colds in one day.”. The alleged cold-curmg properties of the drugs were found “by accident” by Captain Brewster, of the United States Medical Corps. He prescribed it to a man suffering from hives—a legitimate prescription. The man also had symptoms of a cold, but the next morning these had vanished. Further experiments showed that ail symptoms of a cold disappeared in 90 per cent, of his patients given the drug within the first hour of the onset. There was 87 per cent, complete relief in patients treated within two hours of the onset, 74. per cent, within six hours of onset, and 70 per cent, cures in patients treated within 12 hours. In patients treated later, the cold was arrested in from three to said that the danger in its use lay in its toxic effect. This was greater with some persons than it was with others. A friend who had taken it legitimately had become so drowsy that he struck his own gate post in his car, yet he had driven through the same gateway many hundreds of times without accident. The drugs were of the antihistamine family, and were used to treat a variety of ailments arising from excess of histamine in the systern. Histamine was a chemical m the body which could cause extreme irritation such as prickly heat: rhe drugs were available in the Dominion under the social security scheme, hut he very much doubted their efficacy as a cold cure. „ , Hundreds of people must have used the drugs in a legitimate manner and not observed their alleged value as a cold cure. Definite nroof had not yet. been forthcoming. In hl f r cport. Captain Brewster stated that no one seemed to know whether the cold was cured or not. All that was certain was that any sign of what may have been a cold vanished. In order to prevent abuses, the makers of the drug in England have applied for it to be put on the poisons list, and this is expected to be done shortly. Then a doctor’s prescription will be necessary before it can be bought.