Today, we know aspirin as a common over the counter medication that reduces fever, inflammation and minor aches and arthritis. many, however are unaware of it's long and fascinating history.
The history of aspirin (also known as acetylsalicylic acid or ASA)) and the medical use of it and related substances stretches back to antiquity, though pure aspirin has only been manufactured and marketed since 1899. Medicines made from willow and other salicylate acid-rich plants date back 3000 BC or further. Willow bark extract became recognized for its specific effects on fever, pain and inflammation in the mid-eighteenth century. By the nineteenth century pharmacists were experimenting with and prescribing a variety of chemicals related to salicylic acid, the active component of willow extract.
In 1853, chemist Charles Frédéric Gerhardt reacted acetyl chloride with sodium salicylate to produce aspirin for the first time; in the second half of the nineteenth century, other chemists established the compound's chemical structure and devised more efficient methods of creating it. In 1897, scientists at the drug company Bayer began investigating acetylsalicylic acid as a less-irritating replacement for standard common salicylate medicines. By 1899, Bayer had dubbed this drug Aspirin and was selling it around the world. Aspirin's popularity grew over the first half of the twentieth century, spurred by its effectiveness in the wake of Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, and aspirin's profitability led to fierce competition and the proliferation of aspirin brands and products.
Aspirin's popularity declined after the development of acetaminophen in 1956 and ibuprofen in 1962. In the 1960s and 1970s, John Vane and others discovered how aspirin works, while clinical trials and other studies from the 1960s to the 1980s established aspirin's efficacy as an anti-clotting agent that reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Aspirin sales revived considerably in the last decades of the twentieth century, and remain strong in the twenty-first with widespread use as a preventive treatment for heart attacks and strokes.
The history of aspirin (also known as acetylsalicylic acid or ASA)) and the medical use of it and related substances stretches back to antiquity, though pure aspirin has only been manufactured and marketed since 1899. Medicines made from willow and other salicylate acid-rich plants date back 3000 BC or further. Willow bark extract became recognized for its specific effects on fever, pain and inflammation in the mid-eighteenth century. By the nineteenth century pharmacists were experimenting with and prescribing a variety of chemicals related to salicylic acid, the active component of willow extract.
In 1853, chemist Charles Frédéric Gerhardt reacted acetyl chloride with sodium salicylate to produce aspirin for the first time; in the second half of the nineteenth century, other chemists established the compound's chemical structure and devised more efficient methods of creating it. In 1897, scientists at the drug company Bayer began investigating acetylsalicylic acid as a less-irritating replacement for standard common salicylate medicines. By 1899, Bayer had dubbed this drug Aspirin and was selling it around the world. Aspirin's popularity grew over the first half of the twentieth century, spurred by its effectiveness in the wake of Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, and aspirin's profitability led to fierce competition and the proliferation of aspirin brands and products.
Aspirin's popularity declined after the development of acetaminophen in 1956 and ibuprofen in 1962. In the 1960s and 1970s, John Vane and others discovered how aspirin works, while clinical trials and other studies from the 1960s to the 1980s established aspirin's efficacy as an anti-clotting agent that reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Aspirin sales revived considerably in the last decades of the twentieth century, and remain strong in the twenty-first with widespread use as a preventive treatment for heart attacks and strokes.
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