Sanatogen

Sanatogen was a "brain tonic" invented by the Bauer Chemical Company, in Germany in 1898 and sold worldwide[1]

Sanatogen
Product typePatent medicine
OwnerBauer
CountryGermany

In the US it was advertised as a "nerve revitaliser". The medicine was prohibited in Australia in 1915 during World War I and a British-made substitute "Sanagen" was introduced to the Australian market the following year, claiming to be "identical to Sanatogen". The product became fashionable in China in the early 20th century and won the favour of many renowned people.[1]

The indications or uses for this product provided by the manufacturer were: "Food tonic. A concentrated nutrient with tonic properties. It is very easily digested and absorbed and is recommended as an effective means of reinforcing the daily diet of anaemic and convalescent patients, including children, and in cases of weakness and exhaustion from overwork or illness."[2]

Product information

The ingredients have been described as:

Marketing

The product was marketed extensively in Europe and the US with such slogans as "Endorsed by over 20,000 Physicians".[3]

Court case

In 1913 the product was at the centre of a United States Supreme Court case: Bauer & Cie. v. O'Donnell. The product was also the subject of intellectual property litigation worldwide.[4]

Other products

The Sanatogen brand persists in the UK as a fortified wine, with an alcohol content of 15%.[5]

Sanatogen is also the name of a modern multivitamin product manufactured by Fisons before being sold to Bayer[6] which has been claimed to be dyed with harmful additives.[7]

References
  1. Pei-yin Lin and Weipin Tsai (eds) (2014), Print, Profit, and Perception: Ideas, Information and Knowledge in Chinese Societies, 1895-1949, Brill Academic Pub, ISBN 978-9004259102, pp.128-135
  2. "Sanatogen | National Museum of American History". National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  3. Everybody's Magazine, Vol, XXXVVII, No. 5, May 1918, p.111,
  4. Banerjee, Arpan; Beldiman, Dana (23 October 2020). "International trade mark enforcement under the Versailles Treaty: a case study of Sanatogen". Forgotten Intellectual Property Lore.
  5. "Sanatogen Tonic Wine Original 70Cl". Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  6. "Sanatogen". Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  7. "Best-selling Sanatogen vitamin pills are dyed with harmful additives". The Independent. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
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