Standard drugs and drug standards
A comparative historical study of pharmaceuticals in the 20th century
News
CfP: "Drugs and the birth of scientific marketing"
Berlin, June 4th-5th, 2012
Changes to the ESF Guidelines for Research Networking Programs (RNPs)
Standards and drug use outside the pharmacy.
Conference to be held in Lyon, France; 15, 16, 17 December 2011.
Gendered Drug Standards: Historical and Socio-anthropological perspectives
University of Granada, 28-30 November 2011.
"Beyond the Magic Bullet: Reframing the History of Antibiotics"
Workshop 17-19 March 2011, Oslo, Norway
Organisers: Christoph Gradmann (Oslo) and Flurin Condrau (Zurich)
Drugs, Standards and the Practices of Globalization, To be held in Paris December 9-11, 2010.
An International Conference of the ESF DRUGS Program organized by CERMES 3 (Centre de Recherches Médecine, Sciences, Santé et Société) with the support of Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.
The first ESF DRUGS Preprint Circulation of Antibiotics: Journeys of Drug Standards, 1930-1970 is now available. Download it here.
Harmonizing Drugs. Standards in 20th Century Pharmaceutical History Edited by Christian Bonah, Christophe Masutti, Anne Rasmussen and Jonathan Simon. The volume based on our opening conference in Strasbourg is ready.
Evaluating and Standardizing Therapeutic Agents, 1890-1950, Edited by: Christoph Gradmann, Jonathan Simon is now available. Order here.
Ways of Regulating: Therapeutic Agents between Plants, Shops, and Consulting Rooms. Eds. Jean Paul Gaudillière and Volker Hess (=Preprint 363). Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin 2008.
Presentation
"DRUGS" is a Research Networking Programme of the European Science Foundation (Standing Committee for the Humanities). It aims the analysis of processes of standardization in the development, regulation, marketing, and use of modern pharmaceuticals.
Why standardization?
Using the theme of standardization, applied both to objects and practices, the network proposes to explore the development of twentieth-century medicine by looking at the production, distribution, prescription and consumption of major classes of therapeutic agents, such as sulfa-drugs, hormones, and psycho-active drugs. The aim is to evaluate the contribution of industrial, administrative and clinical standardization to the 'therapeutic revolution' (1920-1990) in which a series of 'miracle' drugs changed the face of Western medicine.
Methodology
Rather than taking twentieth-century developments in the production and evaluation of drugs as 'natural' responses to a series of practical problems, we examine the evolution of industrial standards and drug trials, along with prescription and clinical practices, from a historical perspective. Thus, for example, by looking at the role played by accidents or proposed, but rejected, alternatives to standard modern practice, we aim to reveal the multiple forces that have shaped our modern medical world.
Issues
This approach takes us beyond the usual protagonists in this history - research scientists and their clinical partners - allowing important groundwork in the contextualization of this field with respect to the intervention of the state, industry, and other actors. A richer view of the context for the scientific innovation that lies behind the modern pharmaceutical industry promises to open up new perspectives in the analysis of today's health systems.
Furthermore, as standardization is a theme common to a number of disciplines, the proposed approach will open up interdisciplinary discussion allowing fruitful exchange between researchers who otherwise might not meet. Thus, we propose an international networking experience around a rich theme with a rich historical terrain, and significant contemporary interest.