Haloperidol’s introduction in the United States: A tale of a failed trial and its consequences

Haloperidol, the first butyrophenone neuroleptic, was created in Europe by Janssen Pharmaceuticals in 1958 and was introduced swiftly throughout the continent with great enthusiasm. On September 15, 1959, at Janssen's headquarters in Belgium, teams from around Europe praised the effectiveness of haloperidol. In the United States, on the contrary, its introduction was a tremendous failure, plagued by accusations of inefficacy and patent disputes. A clinical trial in Manhattan has been blamed for this commercial failure. The results of the Manhattan trial were seen as radically different from the results obtained in continental Europe. This divide would have considerable impact not only with regard to haloperidol's path on both sides of the Atlantic, but also possibly on the practical experience and theoretical construction of psychiatry. This article tries to reconstruct the story of that trial based mainly on published papers and interviews. Exploring how societal changes and issues of gender and race shaped this process, this investigation attempts to understand and contextualize different possible reasons for this Atlantic rift.