A Remarkable Medicine Has Been Overlooked: Including an Autobiography and the Clinical Section of the Broad Range of Use of Phenytoin

Many people live one life. Jack Dreyfus has had two. The first was when he founded the Dreyfus Fund. He became known as "the most singular and effective personality to appear on Wall Street since the days of Joseph Kennedy and Bernard Baruch" ("Life" magazine). The author's second life began in 1963 when, in the midst of a severe depression, he asked his physician to let him try a medicine usually prescribed for epilepsy. The medicine (phenytoin) brought him back to good health almost overnight. When he saw six other people have similar results, he realized he had an obligation to investigate further. He retired from his two highly successful businesses, established a charitable medical foundation, and spent the last 30 years of his life and $80 million obtaining information about the many uses of phenytoin. He found that it had been reported useful in the medical literature for over 70 symptoms and disorders. This information, in 20 different languages, has been translated and condensed into three bibliographies and sent to all the physicians in the United States. In spite of this, phenytoin is still being overlooked because of a flaw in the US system of bringing medicines to the public. Dreyfus's attempts to correct this tragic misunderstanding have led to the highest levels of government - but he has found government too busy with problems to have time for solutions.