Historical background

The creator of this formulation is Dr. Olga V. Galkina-Taylor: a former senior scientist in the Department of the Central Mechanism Regulation at the Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Medical Science. The creation of Alcolim and its story starts two decades ago.

During the Cold War the Soviet Bloc developed scientific research that grew apart, from, and was not influenced by, the western world. For this reason, the Institute of the Academy of Medical Science provided Dr. Galkina-Taylor and a group of scientists with the opportunity to investigate pathological states that directly affected the mechanisms of the brain and the process of memorising. Two specific conditions were selected for the investigation programme, namely schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. Schizophrenia was looked upon as being a condition that was associated with youth and involved too much ‘memory’ whilst the latter was primarily associated with the ageing process and resulted in minimal ‘memory’ ability.

In order to further her work, Dr. Galkina-Taylor required urine samples from a range of individuals who were deemed, under the Soviet classification system, to be suffering from various stages of these two conditions. However, due to the isolation of the Soviet Union, and the political expediency that suited the regime at the time, the clinical definitions did not coincide with that of western society. Most people who would be judged in the west as being depressed were, by Soviet standards, classified as being schizophrenic, and hence subject to possible incarceration. Many classified as schizophrenics were, in fact, alcoholics who represented and still represent a very significant proportion of the Soviet population. Hence a percentage of the urine samples for research came not from schizophrenics, but from people who simply suffered from alcoholism, depression or who could not cope with the harshness of life.
As a direct result of her work, it became very clear that many of these “schizophrenics” had, in reality, chemical imbalances that were easily rectifiable. Dr Galkina-Taylor consequently produced Alcolim to carry out this role. Sample capsules were produced and tested on over 100 volunteers. The results were quite astonishing, and it quickly became very clear that the craving for alcohol disappeared almost immediately. Some subjects required a small top up every few months, whilst others lasted between ten to twelve months before a boost was necessary.