15 Jaimary 1952 10,,UR.&IMUM FOR: To ,@UDJ.CC,T i Use of a Chemical Compourvi 1. About a month agoj asked me if we could give Iiim arW information on nicotinic acid. We have made a nu2mber of discreet inquiries and have turned up information as noted herein. This in- formation comes from one of the most prominent pharmacologists in the United States,, We are raking further inquiries of sources recomrnnded 1,-y the irylividual ,Tho provided this irxforinition. One source in par- ticular is reported to b2e doinr,, researeli in nicotinic acid and we may obtain evan more useful information. 2. The information pi-ovided is as followst The co=on use of nicotinic acid is as a vitamin; it is used principally as a preventotive for pellagra (a skin affection i-rith severe 2constitutional and nervous syrptons) in the southern part of the.US. Its therapeutic action in these cases is in developing a psychosis and dilating the blood vessels. 9ince nicotinic acid is a peripheral dilator of blood ve.-selsj it mi2glit also be iL-3ed in the treatment of frost bite but there is no pub3.ished' indication that this t@,pe of therapy has ever been developed ar7where. Iiis staff has done much work on using a combination of nicoi-,inomid with privine for the treatment of schizophr2enic patients. Privine is a nicotinic acid inhibitor (B 45) and., -,lthour-h very lethal in @Lnintlsj is not poisonous for Inm,,in-beings* The nicot:Lnomid-privine combim-ition produces a rhmk reretion i;iiicli does not in%,olve conviLI:3iorm. Perin, (,,nts in this have bcen mide an patients at a Ftat@o ilospital nearby but are no longer being 'c,-,rried an because of the lnek of f=lq @rnd the dif2fiaLtlty in tr.-tv-el betw2een the vic(lic-U collf,-,ge laboratories rrx-I the hospital, 'ilia -,ource did not know of other doctors or 1,3.L)or@-itories in tila U7- or abroad vaio were worklnr, with this nicotinomid- rivine combination or other 5nicotinic acid coitpow-ids. Ile p could not recall having seen any publications on this subject. osi/