Phospho-Energon, often just called Energon, was a "miracle medicine" produced and distributed in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Through the sales of Phospho-Energon, the emerging Swedish pharmaceutical company

Pharmacia Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical and biotechnological company in Sweden that merged with the American pharmaceutical company Upjohn in 1995. History Pharmacia company was founded in 1911 in Stockholm, Sweden by pharmacist Gustav Felix Grönfeldt ...

(founded in 1911 out of the ''Elgen'' pharmacy in central

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

) was able to establish itself in the market. With the incomes generated by the Energon sales Pharmacia was able to initiate pharmaceutical research and the production of other medicines, eventually becoming a major actor in the Swedish and international pharmaceutical sectors. The main ingredients of Energon were

calf's brain Beef brains and veal (juvenile beef) or calf's brains are used in the cuisines of France; Italy; Spain; El Salvador; Mexico, etc. where they are called ''sesos'' in Spanish and are eaten in tacos and quesadillas; Pakistan and Bangladesh, where t ...

, sugar, and milk. Initially, the drug was sold as a powder to be mixed with liquid, but later pills were produced. The product was said to have a "safe and rapid effect against general debility, lack of appetite, nervous tension, exhaustion, and sleeping problems". The drug was also used against blood deficiency and disturbances in the neural system. Moreover, the advertisement of

claimed that consumption of Energon would relieve the user of fear of traffic, through the soothing of the nerves. In early advertisements, Pharmacia claimed that the drug was endorsed by Swedish physicians. Moreover, the company stressed that its production was conducted under the scrutiny of professor Karl Albert Vesterberg. The permit to sell the Phospho-Energon pills in Swedish pharmacies lapsed in 1936. The permits to sell four variations of the Phospho-Energon pills (with

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

kola KOLA (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Redlands, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. It is owned by the Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation and it airs a classic hits radio for ...

extracts) in Swedish pharmacies lapsed in 1943. The preparation Phospho-Energon with kola contained the following ingredients: Dried

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

brain; Dried kola extract; Ferrous tartrate; Calcium pantothenate;

Choline Choline is an essential nutrient for humans and many other animals. Choline occurs as a cation that forms various salts (X− in the depicted formula is an undefined counteranion). Humans are capable of some ''de novo synthesis'' of choline but re ...

;

Copper sulphate Copper sulfate may refer to: * Copper(II) sulfate, CuSO4, a common compound used as a fungicide and herbicide * Copper(I) sulfate Copper(I) sulfate, also known as cuprous sulfate, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Cu2 SO4. It ...

;

Licorice Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted. The liq ...

;

Nicotinamide Niacinamide or Nicotinamide (NAM) is a form of vitamin B3 found in food and used as a dietary supplement and medication. As a supplement, it is used by mouth to prevent and treat pellagra (niacin deficiency). While nicotinic acid (niacin) may ...

;

Pyridoxine Pyridoxine, is a form of vitamin B6 found commonly in food and used as a dietary supplement. As a supplement it is used to treat and prevent pyridoxine deficiency, sideroblastic anaemia, pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy, certain metabolic disorde ...

;

Riboflavin Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, is a vitamin found in food and sold as a dietary supplement. It is essential to the formation of two major coenzymes, flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide. These coenzymes are involved in ...

;

Thiamine Thiamine, also known as thiamin and vitamin B1, is a vitamin, an essential micronutrient, that cannot be made in the body. It is found in food and commercially synthesized to be a dietary supplement or medication. Phosphorylated forms of thi ...

References

{{reflist Patent medicines Goods manufactured in Sweden