Products
One of Parke-Davis' early products was an amylase isolated from Aspergillus oryzae by Dr. Jōkichi Takamine.[9] The enzyme was originally intended for use in distilleries but was more successfully marketed as "Taka-diastase" for dyspepsia.
Also, Parke-Davis distributed Coley's toxins, the first cancer vaccine, which was developed by William Coley to treat osteosarcoma. Additionally, the company entered into a distribution agreement with the Inoculation Department of St Mary's (London) and distributed a number of vaccines for infectious diseases and even acne and cancer.[10]
Another of the company's products developed by Takamine was a pure form of adrenaline. The compound was patented in 1900 and trademarked as "Adrenalin." Because of the similarity of this name to "Adrenaline," the use of the alternative name "epinephrine" for generics was mandated in the United States and is used to this day. Parke-Davis filed a lawsuit against H. K. Mulford Company alleging infringement of its Adrenalin patents. The ruling in favor of Parke-Davis by Judge Learned Hand is considered crucial to modern patent law.
Parke-Davis was known worldwide[11] for its cannabis products, being even used by Egypt to create a diplomatic incident at the International Office of Public Hygiene,[12] a predecessor of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Like Bayer with heroin; before the criminalization of cocaine, the drug was sold by Parke-Davis in various forms, including cigarettes, powder, and even a cocaine mixture that could be injected directly into the user’s veins with the included needle. The company promised that its cocaine products would "supply the place of food, make the coward brave, the silent eloquent and ... render the sufferer insensitive to pain." In October 1915, Aleister Crowley, author of Diary of a Drug Fiend and The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, stopped by Parke-Davis in Detroit, where, according to Crowley, the cooperation was complete. "[They] were kind enough to interest themselves in my researches in Anhalonium lewinii (peyote) and made me some special preparations on the lines indicated by my experience which proved greatly superior to previous preparations."[13] Parke-Davis also was the original manufacturer and patent holder of phencyclidine (PCP) which is currently listed as a Schedule II drug in the United States. It also developed Ketalar (ketamine hydrochloride), a general anesthetic and dissociative drug, in 1962.
Parke-Davis marketed the first widely available epilepsy treatment, Dilantin, which was approved in 1939, although it discovered neither the compound nor the application on its own.[14]
In partnership with the Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo Co. and the British firm Glaxo Wellcome, Parke-Davis developed and marketed the anti-diabetic drug Rezulin (troglitazone) in the late 1990s. The drug was withdrawn in the USA in March 2000 because of liver toxicity.[15]
Parke-Davis developed the first bacterial vaccine, and the company was thus known as a pioneer in the field of vaccinology. It was also among the five firms contracted to manufacture the original Salk killed-virus vaccine.[16] A combination of the DPT and polio vaccines, called Quadrigen, was developed in 1954 and approved in 1959. Quadrigen was later removed from the market in 1968 after a series of lawsuits pertaining to adverse effects in vaccinated children. Parke-Davis also produced the broad-spectrum antibiotic chloramphenicol, which was a blockbuster product before the discovery of its association with aplastic anemia.
Other products popularized by the company included anti-infectives and brands of combined oral contraceptive pills.
