GR: D-IX and Pervitin

[Robin Landseadel]

Stumbled across this while looking up the history of Speed. Doubtless  
relevant in GR:

	In 1939 two scientists working for I.G. Farben, Otto Eisleb, and
	O. Schaumann, at Hoechst-Am-Main, Germany, discovered an
	opioid analgesic which after numbering compound 8909, they
	named Dolantin (Pethidine). Hopes that it would be a new, non-
	addictive pain reliever, to take the place of Morphine, just like
	Diamorphine (heroin), before it, came to naught. However,
	because it was an extremely effective analgesic, the Germans
	used the drug extensively throughout World War II.

	'(Unless otherwise noted, facts are taken from The Methadone
	Briefing, edited by Andrew Preston, London: Waterbridge
	House, 1996).

	'From 1937 through the Spring and Summer of 1938, two other
	scientists working for I.G. Farben, Max Bockmuhl, and Gustav
	Ehrart, were working with similar compounds to Dolantin.
	Bockmuhl and Ehrart were searching for drugs with certain
	characteristics, such as "water soluble hypnotics (sleep
	inducing) substances, effective drugs to slow the
	gastrointestinal tract to make surgery easier, effective
	analgesics that were structurally dissimilar to Morphine-in the
	hopes that they would be non-addictive, and escape the strict
	controls on opiates."

	'On September 11, 1941, Bockmuhl and Ehrhart filed a patent
	application for, and were formally credited with, the discovery of
	Hoechst 10820 (Polamidon), which eventually became known
	as Methadone.

	'In the Autumn of 1942, I.G. Farben handed over the drug,
	codenamed "Amidon", to the German military for further testing.

	'The Nazis did not make any attempt to mass produce the drug,
	unlike Pethidine, which by 1944 was being produced at an
	annual rate of 1600 kg. One reason for this was given by Dr. K
	K Chen, an early American researcher, after the war. He said
	that a former employee of the I. G. Farben factory had written
	him, saying that the Germans had discontinued Polamidon use
	due to its side effects. Chen decided that the Nazis had been
	giving their test subject doses that were too high, causing
	nausea, overdose, etc.

	'After the war ended, the Allies divided up the spoils. I. G.
	Farben was in an US-occupied zone so all its "intellectual
	capital" (patent, trade names, and the like) came under US
	management. Along with the formula for Zyklon B, a nerve gas
	[sic.] that the Nazis used in some of their extermination
	programs, Methadone was now an American possession.
	

More @

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=15333