Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic
acid (aspirin) was originally made from a chemical found in the bark of willow
trees. In its primitive form, the active ingredient, salicin, was used for centuries
in folk medicine, beginning in ancient Greece when Hippocrates used it to
relieve pain and fever. Known to doctors since the mid-19th century, it was
used sparingly due to its unpleasant taste and tendency to damage the
stomach.
In 1897, Bayer employee Felix Hoffmann found a way to create a stable form
of the drug that was easier and more pleasant to take. After obtaining the
patent rights, Bayer began distributing aspirin in powder form to physicians
to give to their patients one gram at a time. The brand name came from “a”
for acetyl, “spir” from the spirea plant (a source of salicin) and the suffix “in,” commonly used for medications. It quickly became the number-one
drug worldwide and in 1915 was made available in tablet form without a
prescription.
Aspirin is one of the most widely used medications globally, with an
estimated 50 to 120 billion pills consumed in many countries.
The word Aspirin was Bayer’s brand name; however, their rights to the
trademark were lost or sold in many countries.
