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Pharmacy Time Capsules

2006

1981—Twenty-five years ago:

  • First vaccine for Hepatitis B (Heptavax B) is approved.
  • Captopril, (Capoten) the first orally active angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor was marketed by Squibb.
  • There were 72 colleges and schools of pharmacy accredited by ACPE. 7,323 graduates with first professional degree, a decline of almost 6% from the previous year and the 4th year of decline 
  • IBM personal computer introduced.
  • Aspartame approved by the FDA for use in tabletop sweeteners after a seven-year regulatory review.
  • The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recognizes the disease called acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, for the first time.
  • Jere Goyan, the first pharmacist who served as the head of the Food and Drug Administration is replaced by Arthur Hayes.  Highlights during his tenure at FDA included attempt to make patient package inserts compulsory.

1956—Fifty years ago

  • The Narcotics Control Act is enacted; it provides the death penalty, if recommended by the jury, for the sale of heroin to a person under eighteen by one over eighteen and increases the penalty for the sale or use of marijuana.
  • There were 75 colleges of pharmacy accredited by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education  with student membership in APhA of 13,100. 
  • Methylphenidate hydrochloride (Ritalin) was marketed by CIBA, first for depression and fatigue it soon found use in the treatment of pediatric hyperactivity, or  attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  • Birth-control pills are used in a large-scale test conducted by John Rock and Gregory Pincus in Puerto Rico.
  • Five-year B.S. in Pharmacy program goes into effect, July 1 for member colleges of American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
  • Founding of the College of Pharmacy at Northern Louisiana State (now University of Louisiana at Monroe).

1931—Seventy-five year ago

  • Paul Karrer successfully isolated Vitamin A from cod-liver oil; it was the first of the vitamins of which the chemical structure was clarified.
  • National Drug Store Survey starts in St. Louis by the Commerce Department with an object to help the small business pharmacist.  Topics included the prescription department, store location and merchandising and included both metropolitan and rural stores. 
  • First indictment in Dallas County Texas for the illegal sale of marijuana.  The Texas penalty was a fine of $25 to $500 or a jail sentence of between one to 12 months
  • National Pharmacy Week was promoted through a national window display competition with the winner receiving the Robert J. Ruth trophy, named in honor of the originator of Pharmacy Week.  The first winner was Haussman’s Pharmacy of Philadelphia, PA 
  • Fair Trade Act passes in California as a means to combat discounting and by forcing all retailers to maintain the manufacturers’ prices of trademarked products.
  • Originator of Pharmacy Week, Robert J. Ruth, died on July 4, 1931. 
  • The average yearly sales of a drug store were $26,500 and there were 60,000 stores in the US according to the Chemical Division of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

1906—One hundred years ago

  • German bacteriologist August Wasserman develops a test for syphilis
  • Upton Sinclair publishes "The Jungle," a muck-raking novel about the American meat-packing industry directly leading to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act.
  • Death of Chicago pharmacist Albert Ebert, founder of American Pharmacy’s oldest award on November 6.
  • Frederick Gowland Hopkins suggests that food contains trace amounts of certain substances that are essential to life, which later came to be called vitamins.
  • 1906: Formation of the National Syllabus Committee by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy is the first serious attempt at standardizing pharmaceutical education.
  • Congress enacts the first Federal Food and Drug Act “For preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or

1881—One hundred twenty-five years ago

  • Nebraska Pharmaceutical Association formed.
  • Proprietary Association of America (originally Proprietary Medicine Manufacturers and Dealers Association) was formed to lobby for the repeal of a Civil War tax.  The name was changed to the Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association (1990) and then to Consumer Health Care Products Association (1999).
  • Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, was born on August 6, 1881 in England.
  • In May 1881, Louis Pasteur demonstrated the effectiveness of vaccinating sheep against live anthrax.
  • Alabama Pharmacy Association formed
  • West Virginia Pharmaceutical (now Pharmacists) Association reorganized

 

By: Dennis B. Worthen  Lloyd Scholar, Lloyd Library and Museum, Cincinnati, OH

One of a series contributed by the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, a unique non-profit society dedicated to assuring that the contributions of your profession endure as a part of America's history.  Membership offers the satisfaction of helping continue this work on behalf of pharmacy, and brings five or more historical publications to your door each year.  To learn more, check out:  www.aihp.org