Magyar Hírek, 1983 (36. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1983-07-23 / 14-15. szám
A NEW, SUCCESSFUL HUNGARIAN DRUG A shopfloor at the Gedeon Richter Pharmaceutical Works where Cavinton is produced GOBBI Cavinton is one of the most successful Hungarian drugs of recent years. It has been patented throughout the world. Cavinton owes its existence to three medical research scientists: drs Lilla Forgács, Egon Kárpáti and László Szporny spent 20 years in laborious experiments on this new product that efficiently treats certain disorders of the vascular system of the brain. All three of them were awarded State Prizes in the spring of 19&3 for their successful work. What can this new drug do ? It assists in the treatment of countless disorders related to the deterioration of the oxygen supply of the brain. Its significance is immense. Hundreds of thousands seek medical help every day with symptoms indicating the ageing of the brain, such as dizziness, feeling uncertain, forgetfulness. Therefore it is really offering treatment for a condition that has become endemic thanks to the lengthening of human life. Before the appearance of Cavinton the general practice was to try to increase the cerebral blood supply by general vasodilators, but these affected the vascular system as a whole, therefore the cerebral blood supply did not increase much, but blood pressure was reduced. The advantage of Cavinton is that it contains no substances that reduce blood pressure, and its vasodilatory effect is limited to the brain. It also improves the oxygen-absorbing ability of tissues. An efficient means was given into the hands of doctors with this new medicine. The story of Cavinton goes back a long time. Research was initiated by the late Kálmán Szász. He succeeded in producing a mild blood pressure reducing substance from vinca minor an insignificant evergreen grown usually in cemeteries. Eventually, after further years of research, a drug was made of this substance marketed under the trade name of Devincan. The preparation was beneficial also to patients who suffered mild cerebral vaso-constriction. This recognition inspired the research team to keep on experimenting. They extracted the blood pressure reducing factor from the active ingredient of the drug, and narrowed enquiries its effect-mechanism on the cerebral vascular system. They wanted to find a compound that would assist in supplementing the energies of the brain. Eventually the new preparation was produced in 1971, and given the name of Cavinton. The registration of the world patent by the Hungarian Richter Gedeon Co. beat the French scientists by six months. But the story does not finish there. All new drugs have to be registered in the pharmacopoeia. A wad of documents is needed that contains all of the documentation of the development of the preparation, all of the chemical, pharmacological, toxicological, drugtechnology, and human controls. Unless this file is submitted, authorities will not even begin to think of permitting the marketing of a new drug. All data are checked, and the health authorities give their consent only when this is done. Since this involves a terrific amount of work, it is quite remarkable that the licensing of Cavinton is in the last stages of approval in Japan, for instance, and in the United States it reached the stage of the repetition of the human experiments. The rapid success is the result of wellconsidered work, since all of the experiments were carried out in accordance with the strictest international rules. The Cavinton documentation is of the highest standards. The research team is not sitting on its laurels. They told us that they still regularly work on Cavinton. The tests collecting information, and carrying out controls will take years yet. Many medical practitioners are taking part. But this is the most enjoyable part of their work, since they are already able to weight the effect of their product in improving the health of many thousands. JUDITH PÁK0ZDI Hilda Gobbi is one of the great personalities of the Hungarian theatre, her memories were recently published, with the title Közben (Meantime). The book was sold out in a few days, and that is not surprising both because of Ms Gobbi’s great popularity and because of the choice stories told in the book. As a recent graduate of the Academy of Dramatic Art Hilda Gobbi was engaged by Antal Németh in 1935 for the National Theatre. She lived through the changes of fortune of the next quarter of a century as a member of that theatre, and accepted increasingly serious and dangerous roles offered not only by the stage, but also by history. This outstanding actress was predestined to play character roles by her talent as well as her whole make up. “I have never been beautiful” - she writes — “in those days they considered me interesting. But let us admit frankly, this meant ugly. Yet this afforded me the unheard of luxury of never having to worry about growing old.” So much so that she played a 106 years old woman in a Céline’s play in her twenties, and Mirigy in Csongor és Tünde and the Duchess of York in Richard III were roles she played right through her life. Hilda Gobbi drew attention to herself already in the first roles she played at the National Theatre. Her performances were characterized by minutely detailed characterization, and almost too strong effects in costume as well as in makeup. Hilda Gobbi was never an actress who could do without business. The peculiar, the irregular- always interested her more than the beautiful; and the complicated more, than the simple. “Thank God, there are so many kinds of us” — she writes quoting from some funnily contradictory bits of criticism, completely free of malice. Preserving this human diversity with all of its minute manifestations, saving them for posteritv became a principal passion for Ms Gobbi. The hundred hobbies of this restless organizer and attic exploring museum founder fed on curiosity and a passion for collecting, that is a desire to give an account of everything that was part of the theatre. There are stories about Gizi Bajor, Lajos Básti, Zoltán Várkonyi, Pál Jávor as well as the minor personalities orbiting around the theatre. Even when she organized the home for aged actors and actresses, Hilda Gobbi insisted that needy, aged auxiliary theater personnel should also be admitted there, just as she would be happiest if the scoured wooden table of the Dohány utca bar could also be shown in the museum of actors and actresses, or the croissants given free of charge in the Café Simplon to drama students learning their roles there. She realized her favourit project, the Theatrical Museum, which now occupies the whole of Gizi Bajor’s villa, almost alone, with the hard work of thirty years. Amongst the material she collected are the putty-nose of Imre Pethes, which he donned as Cyrano, the glass, which held the last wine József Timár drunk, and the death-mask of Gizi Bajor. Her real difficulty was what to leäve out. “We put the pictures and objects of an artist in groups, then began to select them. This is not needed, since the other is more important. And the free wall surface shrunk steadily. Jesus Christ, Lili Darvas! Again we had to take two or four pictures off to squeeze her in. And this is how it went on and on forever, and my heart broke for each role of any of the artists, we had to leave out.” She writes about the leftist recitations she gave in the late thirties and early fourties, when the country went steadily right, about the persecuted people she helped, the underground actions in which she took part. Later, as one of the leaders of the theatrical trade union in 1945 she played a great part in ensuring that the Budapest theatres opened their doors so soon after the hostilities passed. She organized the first drama students hostel for the talented but impecunious in 1947, the Árpád Ódry and Mari Jászai actors’ homes in 1950 and 1951 for lonely old actors and actresses. At seventy Hilda Gobbi is still on stage. She is a member of the young company of the József Katona Theatre, which used to be the intimate stage of the National Theatre. ZSÓFIA ZACHÁR Hilda Gobbi — in 1946 and now 53
