Asian Journal of Paleopathology Vol.3
Received: August 3, 2018
Accepted: October 5, 2018
DOI: 10.32247/ajp2019.3.1

Original Article
Drug testing in Renaissance Florence (16th-17th centuries)

Donatella Lippi, Francesco Baldanzi, Otto Appenzeller, Raffaella Bianucci

Abstract
　Background and objective: Drugs have been used since antiquity but with no controls until recently. Unpublished manuscripts from the ancient Florentine archives of Santa Maria Nuova Hospital allow scholars to ascertain how drug testing was performed on human subjects during the Renaissance.
　Comment: The activity of the Collegio Medico led to pharmacological research. In 1498, the first official European pharmacopoeia was published with the aim of standardizing the methods of drug preparation according to approved formulas.
　What is new? The accounts considered show the relevance of empirical observations and stories of individual patients.
　Conclusions: Approval of human experiments, an extremely long process, is rooted in Medieval medicine. New evidence is given to show how drug testing in human was performed in Renaissance Florence.

Key words
Drug testing, clinical trials, informed consent, history, Renaissance, Florence