BACKGROUND Little is known about the origin of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy). The most commonly repeated statement in the medical literature is that MDMA was synthesized by the German pharmaceutical company Merck in 1912 in order to develop an appetite suppressor. AIM To reconstruct the true story of the first known description of MDMA at Merck using the original documents. ...

Disclosure: Yehuda Chowers has received consulting/lecture fees from AbbVie, Janssen, Takeda, and Protalix. Remo Panaccione is a consultant for AbbVie/Abbott, Amgen, Aptalis, AstraZeneca, Baxter, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Cubist, Eisai, Ferring, Gilead, Janssen, Merck, Robarts, Salix, Samsung, Shire, Centocor, Elan, GlaxoSmithKline, UCB, Pfizer, and Takeda; has participated in speaker bure...

ASCO’s conflict of interest policy, please refer to the Author Disclosure Declaration and the Disclosures of Potential Conflicts of Interest section in Information for Contributors. Employment or Leadership Position: None Consultant or Advisory Role: Alberto F. Sobrero, Bayer (C), Amgen (C), Roche (C), Merck Serono (C), Astra Zeneca (C), sanofi-aventis (C) Stock Ownership: None Honoraria: Alber...

Despite great public interest and desperate need, progress toward a viable human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine remains incredibly slow. Since Merck began its HIV vaccine research in 1985, the pharmaceutical company has yet to produce a vaccine capable of passing Phase II testing. Merck Laboratories President Peter S. Kim recently delivered a speech at Yale University that detailed his co...

H and C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra were recorded at 400 MHz on a Bruker ARX-400 NMR spectrometer (Germany) with tetramethylsilane as internal standard. Column chromatography was performed using Merck (Germany) silica gel (230-400 mesh). Thin layer chromatography (TLC) was performed using Merck silica gel GF254, 0.25 mm thickness. For visualization, TLC plates were placed under aci...