title: History of the discovery and clinical introduction of chlorpromazine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The historical process of discovery and clinical introduction of chlorpromazine, one of the greatest advances of 20th century medicine and history of psychiatry, is analyzed.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this review, we have studied the original works of pioneers in the discovery and clinical use of chlorpromazine, as well as the contributions of prestigious researchers (historians, pharmacologists, psychiatrists, etc.) about this topic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The discovery of phenothiazines, the first family of antipsychotic agents has its origin in the development of German dye industry, at the end of the 19th century (Graebe, Liebermann, Bernthsen). Up to 1940 they were employed as antiseptics, antihelminthics and antimalarials (Ehrlich, Schulemann, Gilman). Finally, in the context of research on antihistaminic substances in France after World War II (Bovet, Halpern, Ducrot) the chlorpromazine was synthesized at Rhône-Poulenc Laboratories (Charpentier, Courvoisier, Koetschet) in December 1950. Its introduction in anaesthesiology, in the antishock area (lytic cocktails) and "artificial hibernation" techniques, is reviewed (Laborit), and its further psychiatric clinical introduction in 1952, with initial discrepancies between the Parisian Val-de-Grâce (Laborit, Hamon, Paraire) and Sainte-Anne (Delay, Deniker) hospital groups. The first North-American publications on chlorpromazine took place in 1954 (Lehmann, Winkelman, Bower). The introduction of chlorpromazine in the USA (SKF) was more difficult due to their strong psychoanalytic tradition. The consolidation of the neuroleptic therapy took place in 1955, thanks to a series of scientific events, which confirmed the antipsychotic efficacy of the chlorpromazine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The discovery of the antipsychotic properties of chlorpromazine in the 1950s was a fundamental event for the practice of psychiatry and for the genesis of the so-called "psychopharmacological revolution."
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychopharmacology Unit, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain. frlopez@juste.net
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: López-Muñoz
authors.forename: Cecilio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alamo
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cuenca
authors.forename: Winston W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Clervoy
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rubio
mesh_terms: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000266:history*; D002746:Chlorpromazine / Q000266:history*; D005602:France; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009656:North America; D010640:Phenothiazines / Q000266:history*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D010640:Phenothiazines; D002746:Chlorpromazine