Balz Viola, Bürgi Michael, Eschenbruch Nicholas, Hulverscheidt Marion
Institüt für Ethik und Geschichte der Medizin, albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Deutschland.
Medizinhist J. 2008;43(2):183-201.
Therapeutic substances, their development, testing, application and effects, have in recent years become a central topic of the history of medicine, history of science, and science and technology studies. This paper provides an overview of the literature on this topic through the four-fold perspective of individual substances, industry, patients, and regulation. It introduces the recently established, DFG-funded research network "Pharmaceuticals in the 20th Century" and sketches current methodological approaches to the history of therapeutic substances. At present it appears to be particularly promising to adopt an approach which uses substances or groups of substances as a heuristic device for exploring their complex networks and interdependencies.
近年来，治疗性物质及其研发、测试、应用和效果已成为医学史、科学史以及科学技术研究领域的核心话题。本文通过个体物质、产业、患者和监管这四个视角，对该主题的文献进行了综述。它介绍了最近由德国研究基金会资助成立的研究网络“20世纪的药物”，并概述了当前治疗性物质史的方法论。目前，采用一种将物质或物质组作为探索其复杂网络和相互依存关系的启发式工具的方法似乎特别有前景。
