The word for today is…
nostrum (noun)
– : a medicine of secret composition recommended by its preparer but usually without scientific proof of its effectiveness
2 : a usually questionable remedy or scheme : panacea
Source : Merriam -Webster
Etymology : In those thrilling days of yesteryear, declared a 1990 Consumer Reports article, “patent-medicine pitchmen and traveling salesmen blanketed the country, hustling notions and nostrums to gullible settlers.” The word nostrum has often been so linked to quack medicine and false hopes for miracle cures, but there’s nothing deceitful about its etymology. It has been a part of English since at least 1602, and comes from the Latin noster, meaning “our” or “ours.” Some people think that specially prepared medicinal concoctions came to be called nostrums because their purveyors marketed them as our own remedy. In other words, the use of nostrum emphasized that such a potion was unique or exclusive to the pitchman peddling it.
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