Pre-1950 may have been different. The NYS Department of Health Lab developed antitoxins for diseases like anthrax and antifungals (ie NYstatin) in that era.
My comment was more the use of entirely in the OP's statement. There was a lot of drug research done before the 1950's and there still is today, but before 1950 it certainly wasn't only the government doing it.
Certainly with the costs associated with drug approvals being exponentially higher today, only Federal government could possibly be in the drug business.
