March 6, 1899
The German company Bayer patents the aspirin.
What is now the most common medicine and is in the cupboards of all homes, acetylsalicylic acid, was originally made from a chemical found in willow bark.
In its primitive form, the active ingredient of aspirin, salicin, has been used for centuries in folk medicine, starting in ancient Greece, where Hippocrates administered it to relieve pain and fever.
Known to doctors since the mid-19th century, salicin was used sparingly because of its unpleasant taste and the damage it caused to the stomach.
In 1897, Bayer employee Felix Hoffmann found a way to create a stable form of the drug that was easier and more enjoyable to swallow.
According to some sources, Hoffmann’s work was allegedly done by the Jewish chemist Arthur Eichengrun, whose contribution was withheld during the Nazi era.
After securing the patent, Bayer began supplying aspirin powder to doctors, instructing them to administer it to their patients in one gram doses.
The brand name comes from the “a” of “acetyl” (acetyl), the “spir” of “spirea” (the plant from which salicin comes) and the “in” which is often used in drug names.
Aspirin quickly became the No. 1 drug worldwide.
Since 1915, it is available in table form and without a doctor’s prescription. Two years later, when Bayer’s patent expired during World War I, the company lost its trademark rights to aspirin in various countries.
After the United States entered the war against Germany in April 1917, Alien Property Custodian, a government agency responsible for foreign property, took control of Bayer’s US assets. Two years later, Bayer’s name and brand in the United States and Canada were auctioned off and acquired by the Sterling Products Company, which was later renamed Sterling Winthrop for $ 5.3 million.
Bayer became part of IG Farben, the group of German chemical industries that formed the financial heart of the Nazi regime. After World War II, Allied forces disbanded IG Farben and Bayer re-emerged as an independent company.
It acquired Miles Laboratories in 1978, acquiring a range of products including Alka-Seltzer and One-A-Day Vitamins. In 1994, Bayer acquired Sterling Winthrop’s over-the-counter drug unit, effectively taking back the Bayer name and logo, allowing it to once again make a profit from the sales of its most famous product in the United States.
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