Juliette Ferry-Danini (Université de Namur): ‘A pink lie in French medicine’

Abstract:

I will describe in this presentation my research on the history of phloroglucinol, a popular pharmaceutical in France and a few other countries. In France, phloroglucinol and its brand name Spasfon are one of the most sold and prescribed medications in the country. These incidentally pink pills are also disproportionally prescribed to women for all sorts of pains, notably menstrual pain. Unfortunately, scientific evidence regarding phloroglucinol is scarce and for some indications, simply non-existent. One of my goals was to understand how phloroglucinol was able to remain on the market without clear evidence in its favour. I argued sexism was one key element – among others – to understand how this situation came about and was allowed to continue. In this presentation, I will also focus on the methodological questions that have accompanied the trajectory of this project. For instance, can one use history to make an abductive argument about the efficiency of a medication? Can an historical investigation be necessary to change the status quo around phloroglucinol? I will end by discussing experimental tools that I am considering in the future of my project and the empirical and philosophical questions these could help answer. For instance, one hypothesis I made about phloroglucinol is that many women in France have complained for many years about the lack of efficiency of the drug, to no avail – a situation which could be described as a case of epistemic injustice. Sociological investigation – by questionnaires or through investigating online sentiment – could provide empirical grounds for that hypothesis. A related philosophical question would then be to ask whether and in what ways populations can know about the lack of efficacy of a drug.

Juliette Ferry-Danini is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the Université de Namur in Belgium.

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