Evening star., 1951-02-09
Paris Rudium Institute
Finds Remarkable Drug
Reported as First Of New
Chemical Line in Medicine
BY Thomos Z. Henry

bUOun0o Ne st~usy
A remarkable new drug which appar-
emily is producing spectacular results In
maladies as far apart as certain forms
Of cancer and diabetes has just been
reported from the laboratories Of the
Radium Institute in Paris.
It ID supposedly significant not only
for It's specific effects but because 1t u
the first Of new chemical line In medi-
cine. It Is paraoxypropeophe Its
major effect IL to inhibit some secre-
tions from the pituitary gland. although
It does not affect ACTH. perhaps the
most important Of these.
This drug Is described by the Paris
correspondent OF the American Medical
Association a. synthetic hormone."
perhaps q forerunner Of many such
drugs which will duplicate the actions
of natural secretions Of the endocrine
glands In some respects, but not In
others.
Governs Other Glands.
The pituitary acts as sort Of gov
ernor over the other glands. Some OF
the most remarkable cases reported are
oepitheliomas. extremely malig-
nant types Of cancer. One case Of ap-
parent complete cure is claimed-at
least there has been no recurrence after
eight months. In three other cases.
where treatment was started when tho
victims already were near death, the
end was considerably delayed. These
cancers are rare, so 1t has been pos
sible to accumulate little data.
Other remarkable results are claimed
in treatment Of goitre, especially can
cerous goitre. The drug appears equally
useful, according to the report from the
American Medical Associations Paris
representative, in cases where there IL
too little secretion from the thyroid,
because Of too extensive surgery. In
nature the thyroid is under close con-
troll of the pituitary.
Success also is reported in treatment
Of diabetes, arthritis and obesity.
Two new drugs equal to morphine or
any Of its derivatives as pain-killers
and with less serious side effects prom
ise to free American medicine from any
dependence on opium.
This Is revealed In report just Is
sued by the Committee on Drug Addic-
ton and Narcotics Of the National Re-
search Council. They still. however. are
little known to physicians and are not
stock-piled sufficiently to meet an
emergency.
The two are levo-isomethadone and
dromoran. The first is fully equal to
morphine as pain-killer and its side
reactions are not SO serious, according
to the committee report.
Formula Found in Germany.
When teams Of Army specialists fol-
lowed the Army through Germany at
the end Of the last war, they found
formulae for making a synthetic NOR
phine known as methadone which had
been given extensive tests both In the
German Army and among civilians. Re-
ports Of all these tests were bad and
the drug was used only with the ut
most reluctance, despite the extreme
shortage Of morphine.
But tests in the United States showed
that 1t was fully equal to morphine and
need not have serious side effects. One
defect IN the German experiments was
that the drug had been given entirely
by mouth. Unpleasant side reactions
were reduced to a minimum when
American chemists succeeded in split
ting methadone into two fractions. One
was levo- -isomethadone. which probably
Is the most effective morphine substitute
yet known.
The other, dromoran, also is German
invention, started at the University Of
Goettingen and then transferred to a
Swiss chemical firm. It is a synthesis
Of morphine itself, while the metha-
dones have very little chemical rela-
tion to the opium product. Per Sc,
dromoran Is about equal to morphine.
1t Is Of special value, however, in that
from IL ran he made varioiIs r1nrnI,ium
derivatives, such as codeine.