On This Day in History, 1899, Bayer patents aspirin. Click the link to read the full story – or, read on if you dare.
********
According to ads, aspirin is “The Wonder Drug That Works Wonders.” That’s mostly due to its pain relieving and fever reducing properties which have made it the most common drug in medicine cabinets world wide today. Not even mentioned in the link to History.com is aspirin’s wide-spread use, in low-dose form, for heart patients. In addition to its many other side-effects – which include an unpleasant after-taste and damage to the lining of the stomach – aspirin also acts as an anti-coagulant. That’s because it inhibits platelet formation. This can be useful for those with atherosclerotic heart disease. “Thinner” blood is less likely to result in coronary artery occlusion and thrombosis which is a common cause of heart attacks.
But back to the marketing campaign…
Aspirin has a long tortuous history. Originally discovered in antiquity in willow bark, it was mentioned by Hippocrates in ancient Greek texts. Over the centuries it has enjoyed enduring popularity in folk medicine. But the story also includes a bit of a 20th century detour between the two World Wars.
Bayer was a German company. After Germany lost WW1, the Allies auctioned off the U.S. and Canadian rights to aspirin for $5.3 million. Meanwhile, back in Germany, Bayer became part of IG Farben, a conglomerate which lay at the financial heart of the Nazi war machine. After Germany’s WW2 loss, the Allies again intervened, slitting up IG Farben, thus making Bayer an independent company once again.
During the merger mania of the 1980’s and 1990’s, Bayer bought out companies such as Miles Laboratories and Sterling-Winthrop which controlled U.S. rights to market aspirin. In so doing, the famous brand became re-united with its most enduring product.
