Graydon Schunkewitz
Professor Latourette
April 15, 2014
Pharmaceutical Industry Pharmaceutical needs have been a part of everyday human life ever since we have walked on this Earth. It is a need that is demanded each and every day by different people, for various medical conditions. It is incredible how the medicine today differs from the ones back then, including the way it was advertised and the process of it being made. In the nineteenth century, pharmaceutical companies used marketing tools through advertisements directly from the consumer to producer, usually through newspaper ads. Originating in England, patented medicines made their way across to America in the 18th century. A lot of the times these medicines contained morphine, opium, or cocaine and were advertised towards infants and children. The legalities of this marketing were not fully regulated at the time as consumers did not understand the risks in taking certain medicines. The unregulated market finally began to be controlled towards the middle of the century in order to force companies to both make medicines that will actually help the patients taking it and regulate the advertising that comes with it. Last, the comparison of marketing medicines back then is slightly different than the marketing these days. Over 200 years, as a country, we have been able to regulate these medicines with the best interest of the customers in mind. The modes of advertising were mainly from the producer right to the consumer. Then, there were two types of medicines, “ethical drugs” and patented drugs. Patented drugs were not actually patented at the time, but instead had certain secret formulas which the company had a copyrighted trademark. It is safe to say that the ingredients in these medicines sometimes included cocaine and morphine, which can cause the consumer to be dependent on the medicine.