Patent medicine

/pˈeɪtənt mˈɛdsən/

/pˈæʔn̩t mˈɛdəsən/

[noun]

Patent medicine

[NOUN]

medicine that is protected by a patent and available without a doctor's prescription

Examples

1. Stoughton's bitters was one of the first patented medicines in this country.

2. I was training into a system pretty blasé and disinterested in addressing the root cause of disease and driven by patent medicine.

3. According to Michigan state university's website, Jamaican ginger extract had been a popular patent medicine throughout the 1800s and early 1900s without ill effects.