German chemist Felix Hoffmann went down in history as the man who gave the world the Aspirin. The painkiller consists of acetylsalicylic acid. The effect of that substance had been known for much longer, but Hoffmann marketed it under the name Aspirin in 1899, which made it extremely popular. Until the advent of paracetamol, aspirin was the most commonly used pain reliever in the West.
Several chemists, including Frenchman Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, tried to eliminate this negative side effect. Felix Hoffmann and his colleague Arthur Eichengrün built on the work of Gerhardt, who had combined the salicylic acid with acetyl chloride, and managed to make acetylsalicylic acid. Hoffmann, who at the time worked at the pharmaceutical company Bayer, had an extra motivation to make a good painkiller. His father suffered from arthritis. He reportedly experienced his first pain-free night in years after first taking the new drug.
Bayer introduced the drug in 1899. It became a resounding success. Initially, Aspirin was only available in powder form. Later, tablets were introduced and it became clear that Aspirin is not only good for fighting pain and fever, but can also reduce the risk of preeclampsia and heart disease.
Arthur Eichengrün
Heroin
Less well known is that Hoffmann also developed heroin (diacetylmorphine) in 1898. Although this substance is nowadays mainly known as an addictive drug, the German made heroin to replace morphine, which was considered far too addictive. It is now clear that heroin can also be extremely addictive.
Bayer sold the drug, among other things, as a medicine against morphine addiction and also put it in cough lozenges. Although heroin was thus sold as a replacement for morphine, it became clear some time after its introduction that the drug was only a more potent variant of the addictive morphine. Heroin turned out to be converted into morphine in the liver. After this became known, the use of heroin was banned in more and more countries.