01754nas a2200301   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001800055653001200073653001800085653002600103653001100129653002300140653001200163653001200175653002200187653002300209653002200232653002800254653004200282653002100324100001100345245007700356300001100433490000700444520098700451022001401438       2011                            d  c2011 Oct10aAntimalarials10aDapsone10aDrug Industry10aHistory, 20th Century10aHumans10aLeprostatic Agents10aleprosy10aMalaria10aMilitary Medicine10aMilitary Personnel10ap-Aminoazobenzene10aPneumonia, Pneumocystis10aRandomized Controlled Trials as Topic10aVietnam Conflict1 aBarr J00aA short history of dapsone, or an alternative model of drug development.  a425-670 v663 a<p>From 1936 until 1996, the drug dapsone treated a diverse array of diseases, including tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, and AIDS-related pneumonia. This article explores how dapsone transformed from a cure for one disease into a treatment for a totally different malady. This process of reinvention in the clinic represents an alternative model of drug development that the historical literature, focused on success in the laboratory, has largely ignored. The core of the paper discusses the reinvention of dapsone as an antimalarial in the Vietnam War through trials led by Robert J. T. Joy, a physician and military officer. As a case study, it offers a fresh perspective on the clinic-as-laboratory approach that other scholars have addressed in a civilian context. Viewing the randomized clinical trial (RCT) through a military prism will demonstrate how a combat environment combined with the regimentation of the armed forces affected the standard methodology of the RCT.</p>  a1468-4373