Mr. Galen Comes To Town (1971) Pharmaceutical Manufacturer's Association

a visitor to one of these modern cities discovers all kinds of people on the [Music] go among them might find one living link with the glory of the past [Music] I beg your pardon sir uh could you direct me to the Poly Clinic hospital Polyclinic yes yes it's right down the street mac oh yes I see the thank you very much sir but my name is not Mac I'm called Galen gayen the pergamum pergamum yes Galen pergamum it's a nice name I bet your mother's real proud of it oh she was yes indeed but of course that was almost 2,000 years ago 2,000 years ago [Music] watch down hold it down hold it down up there hold it down wait here are you all right that was a crazy thing to do so I see and what about the boy was he harmed I guess not he's gone already but what about you I better get you a doctor that won't be necessary you've already got one you were a doctor oh how fortunate I am yes this is your lucky day Mr fman you know this man well his name is gayen pergamum but between you and me he may be some kind of a nut he told me he was 2,000 years old and that was before the accident well he bumped his cheekbone but other than that he seems to be all right how do you feel most grateful not only for your prompt attention but for your obvious concern as well Dr uh uh Reynolds Jim Reynolds uh you think you can get up well I've been doing precisely that every morning my life and that's for several more years than you have okay out of now let's see if we can make it over there to the pharmacy Pharmacy well this is my lucky day as a matter of fact I'd like for you to meet my fiance Ruth this is gayen pergamum are you all right Mr pergamum well I think so but please to my friends I'm gayen [Music] oh [Music] d [Music] [Applause] [Music] you can sit here oh thank you amazing the quantity and the variety so much more than just simple herbs and medicaments but we here to get just one of them with that bump of yours oh doctor it's only a slight ABR and contusion of the inferior edge of the zy dis Arch gayen suppose you let me make the diagnosis and prescribe the proper medication that is the duty of the attending physician isn't it yes indeed and I'll need your home address I assume that'll be in Rome Rome I'll be right back how did he know you were from Rome having an earthly idea well have you come to town to stay are you just passing through passing through is the perfect expression I'm on my way to itha oh the university then you're a teacher on this occasion I go seeking knowledge don't tell me you're a student are not we all all right Jim what going to do for you today give me some cotton cliff and a little hydrogen peroxide somebody hurt the Old Gentleman over there with Ruth in N toga where'd you pick him up literally out of the gutter some kid on a bicycle sideswiped him hurt bad just shook up a bit but you can't take any [Music] chances what a beautiful Medallion oh thank you may I see it of course what does it say it says physici to the emperor Marcus Aus gayen you seem to know a great deal about medicines at one point in time I thought I did but as a a colleague of mine said life is short and the Art of medicine is long what a wonderful way to put it who said that hypocrates he meant that medicine is a NeverEnding quest for knowledge and the [Music] truth thank you bye this is Cliff Johnson the pharmacist oh yes glad to know you it's always a pleasure to meet a new customer well the pleasure is entirely mine Mr Johnson you see I'm attempting to update my knowledge of modern medicine and since you're the prefect here I'd like in Roman terms to interview you well sure so the gim get you patched up I'm almost done cleff thank you now I want you to take one of these if you feel at all uneasy very well well this is a sedative doctor why for two reasons my friend first you may have suffered a slight degree of shock second if you did that medicine will help you two very good reasons doctor prevention and treatment I understand I'm glad you do just in case I'd like to see you again at four at the hospital it's right down down the street I know and that's where I should have been a half an hour ago thank you Cliff see you later and you too gayen I'll be there bye gayen Cliff bye see you [Applause] later what do you think Jim about what about him gayen he seems like such an unusual man he certainly does takes all kinds and that wardrobe right out of Ben her I don't know whether he's playing a part or what his game is what do you mean well to begin with he's he's using the name of one of the famous men of medicine there actually was a galin of pergamum a great Doctor Who wrote over 300 books about medicine but that galin lived back in the days of the Roman Empire oh but he must have been quite a guy worked his way right to the top possession to the emperor Marcus aelius that's right how did you know oh I read it [Music] somewhere thank you B will you take over for a while glad now sir you wanted to ask a few questions where should we start oh with any of these modern healing remedies where does one begin you have hundreds and hundreds of them that's right some are classified as Botanicals from plants and Roots some we call Biologicals from living organisms right some are natural chemicals extracted from plants and animals why yes and some of the new ones are synthetics oh yes produced from chemicals by altering their molecular structure exactly Galen exactly tell me Mr Johnson are the medicin that are still referred to as galenical well yes as a matter of fact that's because a lot of them were discovered by an old Roman physician old well I really don't know how old he was but he did live a long time ago that is if you consider 2,000 years a long time oh I do Mr Johnson indeed I do these look familiar oh yes they were my fathers he was a pharmacist too and when was that right after World War I the Roaring 20s flappers and prohibition Calvin kulage and raccoon coats [Music] yes the 20s were exciting years in Hollywood there was Doug Fairbanks and Mary pford and the Chic Rudolph Valentino in sports that was babe Bru and Bobby Jones and red grain Lindberg had soloed to Paris and they welcomed him home [Music] [Applause] [Music] wildly the 20s were exciting years in the world of medicine too until then very few medicines cured or prevented disease in spite of the claims some were actually good for nothing the old quarantine was to stop contagious diseases but people still died in robes even a ruptured appendix was usually fatal and diabetes often a death sentence then came the big breakthrough insulin with a simple injection the diabetic was given a new lease on life in the 1930s things really started to happen pharmaceutical companies improved the medicines we had and searched for new ones sulfanilamide the first of the amazing sulfa drugs then in 1944 penicillin thousands of American soldiers were saved because of it and it has practically ended the threat of another major killer lowbar [Music] pneumonia 1944 to me that's just yesterday penicillin was the beginning of the age of antibiotics come to think of it of all the prescription drugs I dispense most of them were unknown 10 years ago remarkable yes what seemed like a miracle just a short time ago is now taken for granted especially with some the younger people and that's understandable indeed sure because words like dther scarlet fever and polio are mostly in textbooks now but we older folks remember when they spelled Terror oh Mr Johnson hello Mrs Wilson how are you today and how's the little boy getting along Johnny's just fine Mr Johnson and the doctor says he can go back to school in the fall isn't that just great I'm so glad to hear it oh you can imagine how I feel because I remember so [Music] well doctor tell me the truth please well now Mrs Wilson this was a few years ago things might be different but if our diagnosis of the infection is correct there's a new antibiotic which is proving successful in cases like this oh please God let it work for Johnny well we've already started the injections and when he goes home he can take it orally he won't he won't ever come home again well that's what I thought Cliff but now he's home and he's fine and I'll never be able to tell you how grateful I am you know that's what makes it all wor worthwhile when everything turns out the way it's supposed to I never thought they'd pull that kid through either I'm most curious about that particular medicine Mr Johnson now when the diagnos Charlie Cliff I didn't know you were here how long you've been sitting out here oh just for a few minutes but I could see you were busy oh Charlie I'd like you to meet Mr uh gayen Galen uh gayen this is Charlie Clark how do you do howy galen's writing a book or something now this is the man you want to talk to about that medicine Charlie is the professional service representative for the company that made it why don't you interview him for a while huh I have some work to do well that's an extremely impressive title but just what does a professional service representative do Mr Clark well sit down our number one job is to supply knowledge about the products our company manufactures and of course we make sure they're always available knowledge is indeed important vital particularly in the case of new medicine you see all Physicians are informed as to the exact ingredients and therapeutic value of each drug and so are all pharmacists education yes and you see to it that this knowledge is made available to every physician and pharmacist yes and dentists too you must be a very busy man oh I cover only a very small number of them then the there many men like you yes and there are many medicines I understand thousands there certainly are look here Cliff me a pad will you please thank you they can be classified in one of three broad Ways by a chemical name a generic name and a brand name now the chemical formula might look like this that would be pred Zone well yeah as a matter of fact it would but it's still not a medicine ready for use by the patient until processed with other ingredients to make a finished product that's where the mortar and pessel used to come in used to oh yeah today when a doctor writes a prescription he'll specify one of of these a product he knows by its source and by the reputation of its maker but why should a physician prefer one of those because he can be sure that each one is a precise formulation manufactured to exact specifications and already compounded into a wide range of dosage forms nothing to guess at there go in the complex fight against disease The Physician of today has a great choice of weapons of healing and that's the way it should be because he knows the condition of of the patient and which medicines will be most effective so for your own safety you can't buy them without a prescription That's the Law the law oh yes manufacturers are answerable not only to the patient and the physician but to the government as well racea regul constitu a Roman saying the government sets the standards oh well officially you could say that but in actual fact the government the industry and the professions work together to establish standards of safety and effectiveness of course reputable manufacturers usually exceed those standards by applying rigid quality controls quality controls when are these controls exercised before during and after making the [Music] product you see there may be 20 different elements in a single [Music] product because of all these elements One Drug alone might undergo as many as a thousand separate quality [Music] checks the people who carry out this work are highly skilled and thoroughly trained they use the most sophisticated scientific equipment you can [Music] imagine our equipment makes for precision and all our people recognize the importance of reliability in this business [Music] ifof facto quality controls equal quality drugs an interesting equation that's very good Galen good of course the physician and the pharmacist are aware of this and being men of science they know where it all starts too and where's that in research and development in Laboratories across the country research scientists work to improve today's medicine and find remedies for diseases that are still unconquered the Gathering of data formulation of experiments testing of ideas can be endlessly drawn [Music] up often there are DET tours before the right path is found discovering what won't work as well as what [Music] will you often hear the term Wonder drugs well Pharmaceuticals are wonderful when they save a human life or fight a dread disease their Discovery and development isett pretty wonderful too because it's the result of tireless efforts and adherence to the highest standards of science a lot of dedicated people trying to solve old problems with new answers the Quest for knowledge makes all men brothers yes but it's a big risk against Great odds because for every new drug test tube to Market thousands of compounds may have been tried and discarded and may have taken as long as 15 years to develop at a cost of millions of dollars such fur stagger the imagination and even when a drug is produced and in demand a new discovery can make it obsolete overnight of course that's the kind of competition from which everyone benefits I see a theme through the Grand sweep of History uniting the past to the present a theme a reference for life and the inquiring Spirit to search out the means to sustain it what could be a nobler engagement and you both play a part in [Music] it Charlie it's still a long way from the laboratory to here you see we must submit documented evidence and in detail to the Food and Drug Administration in Washington before any new product is made available Magnus Olympus what it involves and costly Endeavor this all must be yes it is in research development and testing alone far itical companies have spent billions of dollars now those aren't government dollars they come from Private Industry and that doesn't include research done by hospitals and universities and the government itself but just one new discovery can mean a lot to a sick man with a family to support less time in the hospital and back on the job much sooner than a few years ago but this man has to pay for these modern medicaments true but their cost is small compared to his lost earnings as you know know the cost of food and most other items is up it might surprise you to learn that prescription prices haven't changed that much Pharmacy well yes he's right here it's for you gayen a call for me now who in the world I'm gayen yes Dr Reynolds well you you said uh 4:00 oh my goodness I shall proceed at once [Music] have you had any pain this afternoon particularly here no but I must say my head is full of facts doctor the art of healing has come so far you've learned so much in such a short space of time it's almost a miracle we have so much more to learn what have you learned about me apparently very little except that you don't seem to have anything wrong with you physically have you been in a hospital lately other than this one no why' you ask then what's the reason do you really believe that you're galin of pergamum then you do know him his work of course but you don't think I'm he impossible he lived 2,000 years ago 1,800 years to be exact doctor well let's not cribble about a couple centuries can I give up whoever you are Mister you're a strange cat perhaps I am but remember doctor they said that cats have nine lives [Music] Jaylen Jim hi honey you're a little early aren't you yes I just rushed over from the library I was hoping gayen would still be here he is oh good there's something I want to show you yes in just a minute yeah yeah but you ought to see it now just as soon as we say goodbye to gayen ready goodbye gayen but you're not leaving I must as the doctor knows our days on Earth are limited there's so much to do and so little time to do it in that even if a man had 1,800 years it would be in his word impossible but I learned one thing today there are some things we think are impossible that can be realized because dedicated people have faith and the freedom to pursue the unknown for the good of all mankind I have great faith in you Doctor have a little in me I'd be honored if you'd accept this humble momento of my visit a small token of gratitude from jayen well I'll be it's a Roman coin well of course it is what else is there my friends farewell [Music] jayen I just wanted to say goodbye and good luck doctor wherever you're going [Music]