A Brief History of Aspirin

The discovery of Aspirin is a good example demonstrating the ‘Doctrine of Signature’, a common belief in the old Western medicine, stating that cures of a disease can usually be found in the vicinity where the disease originates. Weeping willow containing Salix alba, a chemical treating fever, grows in damp soil, which is also the home of pathogens that cause fever.

The use of willow’s leaves as painkillers can be traced back to an ancient Egyptian medical journal called ‘Ebers’. This old prescription had been passed on from generation to generation only until 1820, chemists were able to extract and purify Salicylic Acid, an analgestic chemical, from willow’s leaves.

In 1897, Felix Hoffmann from Bayer invented a modified version of Salicylic Acid. This new chemical was called Aspirin. Bayer had the patent of the chemical and Aspirin became the most popular medicine at that time.

Bayer was a German pharmaceutical company. At the end of World War I, Bayer’s properties outside Germany were confiscated in compliance with the Treaty of Versailles. An American company called Sterling successfully bid for manufacturing equipment of Aspirin at 5 million dollars (US) in an auction. Bayer had waited for 75 years before it bought Aspirin factories from the pharmaceutical giant, Smith Kline Beecham, which had already acquired Sterling.

Apart from its analgestic function, Aspirin is also well known in its antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and anticoagulant (blood thinning) properties. Today, Aspirin is still a common candidate in doctors’ prescription for a variety of diseases.