Pioneering controlled trials of treatments for erysipelas and pneumonia in Glasgow, 1936–1947

The clinical trials of treatment with sulphonamides for erysipelas and pneumonia conducted by Thomas Anderson and colleagues in Glasgow between 1936 and 1947 are less well-known than the Medical Research Council’s multi-centre trial of streptomycin for pulmonary tuberculosis reported in 1948. The streptomycin trial is often presented as the official birth of randomised trials. Although the trial report does indeed represent a methodological milestone, its iconic status has meant that important earlier controlled trials have been inappropriately overlooked. Among important overlooked controlled trials, those done in the programme of trials done in Glasgow in the late 1930s and early 1940s deserve greater recognition on account of the evolution of randomised trials. As Anderson made clear in his MD thesis, ‘in each stage the allocation of the case to either method of treatment was a random one’ (p. 41). This article outlines the trials of sulphonamides for erysipelas and pneumonia at Ruchill and Knightswood hospitals. In addition to use of the results published in leading British medical journals, I have drawn on information about two of the trials in Anderson’s MD thesis. This was submitted to the University of Glasgow in 1944 and awarded the Bellahouston Gold Medal. It is now freely available online. This article focuses on the methodology and results of the trials. A second paper will discuss their historical context in greater detail.