Neosalvarsan (Neoarsphenamine) in Isopule
date: label: Date made
content: ca. 1948
name: label: maker
content: Winthrop-Stearns, Inc.
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content: Neosalvarsan is a synthetic chemotherapeutic that became available in 1912 and superseded the more toxic and less water-soluble salvarsan as an effective treatment for syphilis.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 box and vial 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
label: place made
content: Canada: Ontarian, Windsor
topic: label: Subject
content: Sterling Drug Collection
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of The History Factory
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2001.0314.211
label: accession number
content: 2001.0314
label: catalog number
content: 2001.0314.211
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Pharmaceutical
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 3.1 cm x 13 cm x 3.3 cm; 1 1/4 in x 5 1/8 in x 1 5/16 in