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The History of Aspirin
Aspirin today is what is known as an over-the-counter Nonsteroidal AntiInflammatory Drug. Aspirin is what your mom had you take when you had a small fever
or pain. What most people take for granted nowadays is how and when the use of modern
day aspirin came into play. The tiny tablet form of aspirin we all know wasn’t always
how it looked.
The journey aspirin has taken has been quite a long one. In fact, the use of it dates
back to about 3000 B.C. where ancient Egyptians used aspirin as a remedy for pain and
fever. However, back then it came directly from the willow tree bark in its natural form,
salicylic acid. It was also known that Hippocrates often prescribed the leaves of willow
tree as a fever reducer in 400 B.C. Many physicians later on in history such as those in
Greek and Rome in 30 A.D. looked to Hippocrates, and prescribed the same to their
patients. Keep in mind that this all happened before any clinical research was done and
before we had the technology to produce aspirin in its modern form. By 216 A.D. willow
was widely used around all parts of the world, with the help of trade.
The use of willow was such an effective, unspecific pain reliever that even several
hundred years later, its use was still prevalent throughout the world. Reverend Edward
Stone, around mid-1700s, was looking for a cure for malarial symptoms, which at the
time was called “the agues.” He discovered ground up willow bark did in fact treat the
symptoms of agues.
With the advancement of technology and global economic growth, the 1800s was
the start of a pharmaceutical race of who could identify, isolate, and synthesize the active
ingredient in willow bark, salicylic acid. In 1828, Joseph Buckner was able to refine
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willow into crystals and called in salicin. However, in 1838, Rafaele Piria was able to
refine salicin further, and produce a stronger compound from salicin and named that
salicylic acid.
Charles Gerhart determined the molecular structure of salicylic acid in 1852. He
was also the first to synthesize acetylsalicylic acid, the compound that would soon
became aspirin, but unfortunately found the compound to be unstable. Around the same
time, John Maclagan was performing a clinical trail. Macalgan gave rheumatism patients
salicin to then find that their fever and joint pain decreased significantly.
The late-1800s was not a time of pharmaceutical companies. Many companies
such as Friedrich Bayer & Company sought out to create a coal-dye company only to
become a pharmaceutical company that entered the race of producing salicylic acid. The
idea of creating acetylsalicylic acid was left on the back burner for several decades, until
1897 where Felix Hoffmann studied the previous experiments of Charles Gerhart.
Hoffmann was then able to create acetylsalicylic acid in its purest form. He quickly
gained praise, and on February 1st, 1899, acetylsalicylic acid was registered under the
name “aspirin” in its original powder form. In 1904, aspirin went from a powder to its
now well-known stamped tablet form.
Aspirin is still a go-to over-the-counter medication, and more and more research
is being performed to discover new ways this drug can be used to cure other diseases.