[D-penicillamine--a retrospective view]

D-penicillamine was discovered in 1943. At the beginning of the 1960s it was introduced into the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Since then, its efficacy and adverse effects have become very well known. According to this experience, D-penicillamine, similarly to gold, is acknowledged as a disease-modifying drug in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.