The progress of experiment
Subtitle: science and therapeutic reform in the United States, 1900-1990
By: Harry M. Marks.
Series: Cambridge history of medicine
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Cambridge [England]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 258
Subjects: Therapeutics -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Clinical drug trials -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Drugs -- Law and legislation -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
Description: This book examines the science and the politics of drug evaluation. It presents the first general history of clinical research in the United States, examining therapeutic experiments over a wide range of diseases, from syphilis and pneumonia to heart disease and diabetes. It also explores the origins of our contemporary system for judging the drugs used in battling disease, and the history of the modern clinical trial.

Harry M. Marks shows that the story of modern pharmaceutical regulation is synonymous with the history of therapeutic reform - professional efforts to use science to reform the market. Accompanying this history of public policy is a detailed account of changing experimental ideals and practices. Marks outlines the history of therapeutic experimentation, from the "collective investigations" of the past century to the controlled clinical trial, which emerged after 1950 as the paradigm of scientific experimentation.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.