The origin of MDMA (ecstasy) revisited: the true story reconstructed from the original documents.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Historical document analysis (graded by design analogy, not clinical CEBM)
PubMed 16911722 · doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01511.x
What was done
The author conducted a systematic analysis of original historical documents spanning the years 1900 to 1960 from the Merck corporate archive in Darmstadt, Germany, to investigate the true historical origin and intended purpose of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).
What was found
No indications were found of plans to develop an appetite suppressant at Merck between 1900 and 1960. MDMA, named Methylsafrylamin in 1912, was synthesized as an unstudied chemical precursor in a synthetic pathway for haemostatic substances designed to circumvent a competitor's patent. Pharmacological testing was conducted at Merck in 1927 and 1959, but never in humans. The abstract contains no quantitative data.
Why it matters
This study refutes the widespread medical misconception that MDMA was originally created or patented by Merck as an appetite suppressant.
Limits
The findings are based solely on surviving internal documents from a single corporate archive. The abstract does not provide the total number of documents reviewed.
Cited by
- supports MDMA was originally developed by the pharmaceutical company Merck.