Patent Medicine

A patent medicine was a non-prescription remedy sold under a trademark and trade name, typically advertised with exaggerated or false claims of curing various ailments while keeping its actual ingredients only partly disclosed. The term dates to the late 17th century, when products that had received a royal endorsement advertised themselves using letters patent, although in practice most such remedies were never legally patented at all, since a real patent would have required manufacturers to publicly disclose their formula. Patent medicines became one of the first major product categories sold through aggressive mass advertising, pioneering marketing techniques later used across other industries, and their sale was increasingly restricted in the early 20th century after investigative journalism exposed their false claims and regulators passed laws such as the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act.