On trial

Marietta Meier is an Associate Professor of History at the University of ZurichMagaly Tornay is a Postdoctoral researcher at the University of BernMario König was an independent author and historian

'Drawing on extraordinarily rich archival access—patient files, administrative records, company documents, and, crucially, the private papers of Vera and Roland Kuhn—the authors offer a dense reconstruction of how psychiatric drug testing evolved between the 1940s and 1980s. The result is a compelling account of shifting ethical and scientific norms: from descriptive case studies to double-blind trials; from an absence of patient information to mandatory informed-consent procedures.'Benoit Majerus, Social History of Medicine

• Introduction1. The 1940s: the ball gets rolling2. The 1950s: testing frenzy with Geigy3. Test patients4. The 1960s: a flood of substances and new dimensions of testing5. Substance logistics, information streams, and money flows6. The 1970s: between doldrums and success7. Fatal incidents8. The 1980s: a long, restless finaleConclusionChronologyList of test substances