A nostrum that became the subject of the first court case under the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Cuforhedake Brane-Fude was developed by Robert N. Harper around 1888 while a student at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Earlier in the decade, a coal-tar derivative, acetanilid, had been discovered to have some effect in bringing down fever and deadening pain. Harper developed a nostrum that included it as a major ingredient. Adding doses of alcohol, caffeine, potassium bromide, and other substances, he marketed it under the name Cephalgine and sold it as “brain food.”
After graduation, Harper moved to Washington, D.C., where he became a successful businessman and president of the retail drug association. Following the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, the Bureau of Chemistry, which is responsible for enforcing the new law, charged that Harper had fraudulently marketed his product as “brain food.” It also maintained that the product included a large percentage of acetanilid, which had been shown to be harmful when taken in large doses. In one of his articles for Collier’s, journalist Samuel Hopkins ADAMS had named some 22 victims of acetanilid poisoning.