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Article ID: CBB000770708

Biotherapies of Chronic Diseases in the Inter-war Period: From Witte's Peptone to Penicillium Extract (2005)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 36
Pages: 675--695

Publication Date: 2005
Edition Details: Part of special issue: “Drug Trajectories”
Language: English

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Medicine Materia medica Immunology Pharmaceutical industry Bacteriology Disease and diseases Therapeutic practice; therapy; treatment 20th century, early

In the inter-war period physicians elaborated numerous `biotherapies' grounded in the complex interactions between physiology, bacteriology and immunology. The elaboration of these non-specific biological treatments was stimulated by the theory of generalized anaphylaxis that linked the violent reaction to a foreign protein to a broad array of chronic diseases, from asthma and urticaria to rheumatism or chronic colitis. Such diseases were perceived as the result of an `abnormal reactivity' to a sensitisation of tissues and organs by bacteria and by foreign proteins, a view that provided an effective bridge between new concepts derived from bacteriology and immunology and the long-standing pathological tradition. Accordingly, physicians attempted to treat these conditions through specific desensitisation and non-specific biological therapies: peptone treatment, protein therapy, haemotherapy, `antivirus' or `opotherapy'. Therapies that attempted to neutralise the harmful effects of chronic infections through `desensitisation' were not seen as marginal medical practices, but were promoted by leading advocates of the `Pasteurian sciences', such as Richet, Widal, Vallery-Radot, Wright and Fleming. They also led to development of new products by the pharmaceutical industry.

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Article Gaudillière, Jean-Paul (2005) Introduction: Drug Trajectories. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (p. 603). unapi

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