In 1916 she established the first American birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York and for this daring venture she served 30 days in jail. Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) trained as a nurse and was a long time campaigner for birth control. Now we come to two women who were close friends. Of course, there are many other anniversaries associated with the development of the Pill. In 2004 he published an autobiography This Man’s Pill: Reflections on the 50th birthday of the pill. His play Oxygen was performed at Circa Theatre Wellington in 2003. Not only is Djerassi a distinguished chemist but he is also a poet, novelist and playwright. It was not however the progestogen chosen for use in the first Pill trials that was norethynodrel produced a year later by Searle, but because of side effects, not as enduring. This one was called norethindrone, better known in New Zealand as norethisterone, which incredibly is still used in pills today such as the combined pills Norimin and Brevinor and the progestogen-only pill Noriday. In 1951 Syntex produced the first progestogen, the term used for substances which act like progesterone. Prior to that progesterone had to be given by injection. His great achievement was for his team to produce an orally active form of progesterone.
When Russell Marker left Syntex Laboratories Carl Djerassi was appointed as the head of steroid research. His parents were doctors and at 16 he and his mother emigrated to the United States. Another innovation by Marker was the octane rating system for gasoline.ĭr Carl Djerassi (1923-2015) was born in Vienna and brought up in Bulgaria. However Penn State University hold an annual scientific lecture in his honour. In 1949 at the age of 47 he retired to make replicas of antique silver and never returned to science. Single-handedly he developed the first mass supply of progesterone and in doing so became a rich man.įor a few years, he was involved in the pharmaceutical production of progesterone with Syntex Laboratories, which he co-founded. No-one would finance his project so he left his University job and set up his own laboratory in a shed in Mexico City. As he predicted, this plant was an excellent source of diosgenin, a precursor of progesterone.
In the summer of 1940 he visited a Mexican jungle to locate a wild yam with a lumpy root. Marker, a Professor of Organic Chemistry at Pennsylvania State University was convinced that he could find a better source in plants. It was extracted from animal sources and was in great demand for the treatment of women with recurrent miscarriage. In 1940 progesterone was a rare and expensive drug selling for $200 per gram. It is fitting to recall these as we celebrate the introduction of the Pill into New Zealand 60 years ago in 1961.ĭr Russell Marker (1902-1995). There are some fascinating stories surrounding the pioneers who were responsible for the development of the Pill.
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