Health Sciences · Hospital for Sick Children
Four glass ampoules each containing 2 ml of liquid Droperidol. The ampoules have white paper labels with black lettering. Each ampoule has a gold ring around the broad portion of the cap.
Accession Number: 2025.sk.67
Alternative Name:
Primary Materials: Glass
Labelling on each ampoule includes the following information: “INVESTIGATIONAL DRUG”, “Droperidol McN-JR-4749”, “To Be Used By Qualified Investigators Only”, “CR1003”.
Height = 5.5, Width = 1.2, Length = 1.2.
Droperidol is a sedative drug that blocks dopamine receptors. From the 1970s until the early 2000s, it was widely used in anesthesia to prevent nausea and vomiting post surgery. It was also used in conjunction with Fentanyl to produce a state of neuroleptanalgesia, in which the patient is sedated but conscious during a surgical operation, or with Fentanyl and nitrous oxide to produce a neuroleptanaesthesia, a form of anesthesia useful in surgeries in which typical anesthetic techniques are dangerous or ineffective.
The ampoules are unused and undamaged. The paper labels may have faded slightly with age.
Associated Instruments:
McNeil Laboratories Canada, Ltd., 11 Green Belt Dr, Don Mills (Toronto), Canada.
Date of Manufacture: c. 1970s
Provenance:
Statistics Canada. Manufacturing and Primary Industries Division. Manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medicines. Digitized publications covering 1960-1980. (Archived 14 August 2022).
Kyle J. Kramer (2020). “The Surprising Re-Emergence of Droperidol.” Anesthesia Progress 67, 3: 125–26.
Droperidol was approved by the FDA in 1970. Its use was restricted in the early 2000s due to concerns about cardiac complications. (See Kramer 2020).
McNeil Laboratories (Canada) at Don Mills
McNeil Laboratories Ltd. was an American corporation that developed research and production facilities in Philadelphia, PA over the early decades of the 20th century. The company notably developed the acetaminophen-based non-prescription analgesic Tylenol that was introduced in the 1950s. In 1959, McNeil Laboratories was acquired by Johnson & Johnson.
McNeil Laboratories, (Canada) Ltd., with production facilities located at 11 Green Belt Dr.. Don Mills (Toronto), first appears in Statistics Canada’s annual census of manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medicines in 1965 (See Statistics Canada Manufacturers…).
The naming and role of the Don Mills site within Johnson & Johnson is opaque, though a better understanding of that history would help to date and contextualize this sample.