Phenytoin History
Phenytoin, which is the generic name of the commercial drug Dilantin, is an anticonvulsant, also known as an anti-epileptic, that controls seizures by suppressing abnormal electrical activity in the brain. The drug, commonly referred to as PHT, comes as a liquid, extended-release capsule or a chewable tablet. It is commonly prescribed to epileptics and to patients during and after brain surgery, but has also been used for other purposes that have not been recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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Discovery
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Phenytoin, whose full chemical name is diphenylhydantoin, was first synthesized in 1908 by the German chemist Heinrich Biltz. He sold this discovery along with many others to drug maker Parke-Davis, which was unable to implement PHT at the time for any practical uses.
Anti-Seizure Effects
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Phenytoin's benefits in preventing seizures were discovered by independent researchers outside Parke-Davis in 1938. Phenytoin was found to be more beneficial than traditional anticonvulsants like phenobarbital because it did not share their sedative effects.
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Jack Dreyfus and Phenytoin
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A major American business leader funded research for four decades into the use of phenytoin to treat other conditions. Jack Dreyfus, founder and former head of the Dreyfus Fund, left Wall Street in the 1960s and started the Dreyfus Health Foundation to research and promote the drug, which he credited with having turned around his depression. Dreyfus believed that phenytoin was a wonder drug that could promote positive mental health by controlling anger and depression. He claimed to have supplied the drug to the late President Richard Nixon during and after his presidency. Dreyfus detailed his views on the drug in his book "A Remarkable Medicine Has Been Overlooked." Despite spending $70 million to promote the drug for other uses, Dreyfus failed to sway the FDA. He died in March 2009.
President Richard Nixon and Phenytoin
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Jack Dreyfus provided Nixon with ample amounts of the drug to rectify his poor moods while the president was in office, Dreyfus claimed in ''The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon'' (Viking, 2000), by Anthony Summers. Nixon's former aides denied the story, but Dreyfus stuck to it and even expanded on it in an interview in 2000. ''When he was 70 he was here and he asked for more, and I gave it to him,'' Dreyfus told the New York Times. ''I know it is a prescription drug, but a president is a president.''
Lawsuit
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In 1995 Warner-Lambert, then the maker of Dilantin, the commercial brand name of phenytoin, was fined $10 million by the FDA for quality control issues related to the drug's production that occurred between 1990 and 1992.
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References
- Photo Credit Tom O'Connell
