The story of cortisone

The subject of the program is the discovery of cortisone as a treatment for arthritis. Studies indicate that symptoms of arthritis can be traced back to prehistoric dinosaurs. Dinosaur fossils from the Jurassic period of more that 150 million years ago, show signs of arthritis. A painful disease for both men and women through the ages, arthritis continues to afflict modern man. It was not until chemist Edward Calvin Kendall and physician Philip Showalter Hench discovered cortisone that relief became available. Their isolation of cortisone from the cortex of the adrenal gland and the synthesis of the compound won them the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950. The Nobel Prize was shared with Tadeus Reichstein of Switzerland. Interviewed on the broadcast are Kendall and Charles Slocumb, an associate of Hench at the Mayo Clinic. Films from the State University Arthritis Clinic at King's County Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., demonstrate the patient's condition before and after the administration of cortisone. The guests discuss the extensive research which led up to the discovery of cortisone, its power to alleviate pain, and the harmful side effects which sometimes result from its use.