Neosalvarsan
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1944
label: product expiration date
content: 1945-02-09
name: label: maker
content: Winthrop Chemical Company
notes: label: Description
content: Neosalvarsan is a synthetic chemotherapeutic that became available in 1912 and superseded the more toxic and less water-soluble salvarsan as an effective treatment for syphilis.
label: Description
content: This vial and its box were manufactured and sold by Winthrop Chemical Corporation, a company in New York. Beginning in 1919, Winthrop sold their products directly to physicians and pharmacists who then sold their drugs to consumers.
label: Description
content: Syphilis is a bacterial infection that commonly spreads through sexual contact although it can also be passed from a mother to her child in utero. When left untreated, syphilis can cause a variety of symptoms ranging from chancres (sores) to neurological damage. During the early twentieth century, syphilis was believed to have reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Finding and treating patients with this disease became an imperative of various state health departments as well as the United States Public Health Service and the American military, which worried about the impact syphilis had on its soldiers and sailors. American concerns about syphilis were shared by countries across the world.
label: Description
content: In 1909, PauI Ehrlich, a German physician and scientist, Alfred Bertheim, a German chemist, and Sahachiro Hata, a Japanese bacteriologist, developed the first drug which could cure syphilis. While highly effective, their drug, Salvarsan, came with multiple side effects. In 1912, Ehrlich, Bertheim, and Hata developed Neosalvarsan which had fewer side effects but was just as effective in curing syphilis.
label: Description
content: However, Neosalvarsan still carried considerable risk of side effects. In the 1940s, the development of penicillin which provided a safe and effective treatment of syphilis led to a decline in the use of Neosalvarsan.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Kenneth E. Hall
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1993.0331.065
label: catalog number
content: 1993.0331.065
label: accession number
content: 1993.0331
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pharmaceutical
label: Other Terms
content: Pharmaceutical; Powder
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: neoarsphenamine (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: yellow (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 9 cm x 9 cm x 3 cm; 3 9/16 in x 3 9/16 in x 1 3/16 in
label: Measurements
content: box: 3 5/8 in x 3 5/8 in x 1 1/8 in; 9.2075 cm x 9.2075 cm x 2.8575 cm
label: Measurements
content: ampoule, each: 3 1/8 in x 3/4 in; 7.9375 cm x 1.905 cm