The Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 and synthetic drugs: relieving scarcity, controlling prices, and establishing pre-market licensing controls.

The "Trading with the Enemy Act" (TWEA) was enacted in October 1917 after America's entry into World War I and during a period of wartime scarcity and rising prices of synthetic drugs and dyestuffs that began in 1914. It was described as "An Act to define, regulate, and punish trading with the enemy, and for other purposes." The act and subsequent executive orders authorized an "Alien Property Custodian" to take control of all enemy property within the United States. Also, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was authorized to issue licenses for the use of enemy owned patents, which covered a range of industrial and consumer products. Significantly, the FTC was given the power to set the conditions for use of the patents and to fix the price for those products necessary for health. The effect of these measures was to bring federal pre-marketing control over the production, testing, and pricing of the most therapeutically significant synthetic drugs of the day. Enactment of the TWEA and the events preceding and surrounding it are significant parts of the history of the American pharmaceutical industry and federal regulation.