IC50 = concentration of chemical required to cut enzyme activity in half.
I found Heymann & Fieser in 1948 but it is clear from the text that the term was already in use.
Dear Joe,
I think that the first time the term was used is between 1934-1938.
In 1934, the first antimalarial agent was discovered and in 1939 the FDA commences registration of drugs. For details see the following text:
Chloroquine (Resochin) (1934, 1946)
Chloroquine was discovered by a German, Hans Andersag, in 1934 at Bayer I.G. Farbenindustrie A.G. laboratories in Eberfeld, Germany. He named his compound resochin. Through a series of lapses and confusion brought about during the war, chloroquine was finally recognized and established as an effective and safe antimalarial in 1946 by British and U.S. scientists.
http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/
Regulation of human drugs and medical devices after 1938[edit]
Early FD&C Act amendments: 1938–1958[edit]
Soon after passage of the 1938 Act, the FDA began to designate certain drugs as safe for use only under the supervision of a medical professional, and the category of "prescription-only" drugs was securely codified into law by the 1951 Durham-Humphrey Amendment.[1] While pre-market testing of drug efficacy was not authorized under the 1938 FD&C Act, subsequent amendments such as the Insulin Amendment and Penicillin Amendment did mandate potency testing for formulations of specific lifesaving pharmaceuticals.[7] The FDA began enforcing its new powers against drug manufacturers who could not substantiate the efficacy claims made for their drugs, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling in Alberty Food Products Co. v. United States (1950) found that drug manufacturers could not evade the "false therapeutic claims" provision of the 1938 act by simply omitting the intended use of a drug from the drug's label. These developments confirmed extensive powers for the FDA to enforce post-marketing recalls of ineffective drugs.[1] Much of the FDA's regulatory attentions in this era were directed towards abuse of amphetamines and barbiturates, but the agency also reviewed some 13,000 new drug applications between 1938 and 1962. While the science of toxicology was in its infancy at the start of this era, rapid advances in experimental assays for food additive and drug safety testing were made during this period by FDA regulators and others.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Food_and_Drug_Administration
Hoping this will be helpful,
Rafik
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