Drug of the Year?

After years in which medical headlines went to tranquilizing drugs, it looks as though 1957's drug of the year is an anti-tranquilizer. Its name: iproniazid. Dropped like a hot potato after 1951 trials against tuberculosis because of admittedly unpleasant and possibly serious side effects, iproniazid was shunned until about a year ago, when psychiatrists decided that it might be useful against deep, unshakable states of depression. The first few researchers got encouraging results (TIME, April 15). A fortnight ago, at a Manhattan conference sponsored by Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc., which markets the prescription drug, more psychiatrists affirmed their faith in iproniazid, and medical researchers in other fields are now chiming in.

In psychiatry, Dr. Nathan S. Kline of New York's Rockland State Hospital reported, the drug is equally effective as a "psychic energizer" for long-term hospital patients and the at-large depressed whom he sees in private practice. One woman's depression, which had defied seven years of psychoanalysis and two years of tranquilizers, yielded dramatically to iproniazid. Equally striking is the case of a professor of medicine who suffers from occasional dizziness and constipation on heavy iproniazid dosage, but refuses to cut down because he would rather suffer these than risk a recurrence of the depression that has handicapped him for twelve years and sometimes crippled him. Dr. Kline, though conceding no symptoms in himself, admitted that he had taken the drug to boost his efficiency when his work load was heavy.

Electric shock treatment for stubborn cases of depression has been steadily reduced in the tranquilizer era. While it still may not be eliminated, it can now be largely replaced by iproniazid, reported Dr. Theodore Robie of New Jersey's Orange Memorial Hospital. He got good results in 46 out of 50 patients kept on the drug, believes that shock can now be safely withheld unless the patient is "aggressively suicidal."

Reports from other medical fields:

P: Startling and still unexplained success has been achieved with iproniazid against angina pectoris, the recurrent pain that afflicts many victims of coronary artery disease. Mexico City's Dr. Teodoro Cesarman was most enthusiastic, reported complete relief after one to three weeks' treatment in 62 cases. One man, incapacitated for eight years, who had taken up to 20 tablets of nitroglycerin a day, lost his pain, began climbing stairs, and walked a mile without distress. U.S. and Swiss specialists reported good though less dramatic results.

P: Of 41 patients with rheumatoid arthritis put on iproniazid, 18 felt better and also had improvement that the doctors could verify; 14 simply felt better.

P: Victims of far-advanced cancer enjoyed a marked "mood elevation," complained less of pain (thus needed fewer narcotics), gained weight, though iproniazid had no effect on their disease.

P: Senile patients (up to age 92) who had been moody and withdrawn or waspish and argumentative became happier and easier to get along with on iproniazid.

P: Even in lowly acne, iproniazid got good results (perhaps because of the emotional factors that are one of its causes). Most notable was the reduction in disfiguring scars.

Many researchers started their patients on too heavy doses, so that they suffered dryness of the mouth, giddiness on standing (from lowered blood pressure), constipation, impotence and even jaundice--a warning of possibly severe liver damage. But most patients could tolerate lower doses, and there were no lasting ill effects after the drug was stopped.

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