The German company Bayer patented aspirin on March 6,
1899. Now the most common drug in household medicine
cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a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 (above) found a
way to create a stable form of the drug that was easier and
more pleasant to take. (Some evidence shows that Hoffmann’s
work was really done by a Jewish chemist, Arthur Eichengrun,
whose contributions were covered up during the Nazi era.)
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.
