tracy putnam, discovered phenytoin's usefulness for controlling seizures, without the sedative effects associated with phenobarbital. according to goodman and gilman's pharmacological basis of therapeutics: in contrast to the earlier accidental discovery of the antiseizure properties of potassium bromide and phenobarbital, phenytoin was the product of a search among nonsedative structural relatives of phenobarbital for agents capable of suppressing electroshock convulsions in laboratory animals. it was approved by the fda in 1953 for use in seizures. jack dreyfus, founder of the dreyfus fund, became a major proponent of phenytoin as a means to control nervousness and depression when he received a prescription for dilantin in 1966. he has claimed to have supplied large amounts of the drug to richard nixon throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, although this is disputed by former white house aides and presidential historians. dreyfus' experience with phenytoin is outlined in his book, a remarkable medicine has been overlooked. despite more than $70 million in personal financing, his push to see phenytoin evaluated for alternative uses has had little lasting effect on the medical community. this was partially because parke-davis was reluctant to invest in a drug nearing the end of its patent life, and partially due to mixed results from various studies. in 2008, the drug was put on the fda's potential signals of serious risks list to be further evaluated for approval. the list identifies medications that the fda has identified a potential safety issue, but does not mean that fda has identified a causal relationship between the drug and the listed risk. to address this concern, the warnings and precautions section of the labeling for dilantin injection was updated to include additional information about purple glove syndrome in november 2011. society and culture economics phenytoin is available as a generic medication. since september 2012, the marketing licence in the uk has been held by flynn pharma ltd, of dublin, ireland, and the product, although identical, has been called phenytoin sodium xxmg flynn hard capsules. (the xxmg in the name refers to the strength—for example "phenytoin sodium 25 mg flynn hard capsules"). the capsules are still made by pfizer's goedecke subsidiary's plant in freiburg, germany and they still have epanutin printed on them. after pfizer's sale of the uk marketing licence to flynn pharma, the price of a 28-pack of 25 mg phenytoin sodium capsules marked epanutin rose from 66p (about $0.88) to £15.74 (about $25.06). capsules of other strengths also went up in price by the same factor—2,384%, costing the uk's national health service an extra £43 million (about $68.44 million) a year. the companies were referred to the competition and markets authority (cma) who found that they had exploited their dominant position in the market to charge "excessive and unfair" prices. the cma imposed a record £84.2 million fine on the manufacturer pfizer, and a £5.2 million fine on the distributor flynn pharma and ordered the companies to reduce their prices. trade names phenytoin is marketed under many brand names worldwide. research tentative evidence suggests that topical phenytoin is useful in wound healing in people with chronic skin wounds. a meta-analysis also supported the use of phenytoin in managing various ulcers. some clinical trials have explored whether phenytoin can be used as neuroprotector in multiple sclerosis.