    patent medicines are compounds promoted and sold as medical cures that do not work as promoted. "patent medicine" is a misnomer since in most cases, although products might be trademarked, they are not patented (the patent process requires proof that something new has been discovered). in ancient times, patent medicine was sometimes called nostrum remedium ("our remedy" in latin). the promotion of patent medicines was one of the first major products highlighted by the advertising industry, and many advertising and sales techniques were pioneered by patent medicine promoters.see conroy, (2009), passim. for an account of e. virgil neal, patent medicine manufacturer and promoter (e.g., the tonic, nuxated iron, which was supposedly used by ty cobb, jack dempsey, and pope benedict xv), madison avenue pioneer, and mentor of carl r. byoir. patent medicine advertising often promoted the advantages of exotic ingredients, even though their actual effects came from more prosaic drugs. one group of patent medicines â liniments that allegedly contained snake oil, supposedly a panacea â made snake oil salesman a lasting synonym for a charlatan. == patent medicines and advertising == right|thumb|150px|mugwump, an invented name the phrase "patent medicine" comes from the late 17th centurynmah | object groups marketing of medical elixirs, when those who found favour with royalty were issued letters patent authorising the use of the royal endorsement in advertising. few if any of the nostrums were actually patented; chemical patents did not come into use in the united states until 1925. furthermore, patenting one of these remedies would have meant publicly disclosing its ingredients, which most promoters sought to avoid. instead, the compounders of such nostrums used a primitive version of branding to distinguish their products from the crowd of their competitors. many familiar names from the era live on today in brands such as luden's cough drops, lydia e. pinkham's vegetable compound for women, fletcher's castoria and even angostura bitters, which was once marketed as a stomachic. though sold at high prices, many of these products were made from cheap ingredients. their composition was well known within the pharmacy trade, and druggists manufactured and sold (for a slightly lower price) medicines of almost identical composition. to protect profits, the branded medicine advertisements emphasized brand names, and urged 
Advertising History_of_medicine Patent_medicines