Felix Hoffman

Felix Hoffman, a chemist working for the Bayer Company, was looking for a better way to treat his father’s painful rheumatism. On August 10, 1897 he successfully synthesized acetylsalicylic acid, tested it on his father and found that it worked remarkably well. His employer marketed the new drug under the brand name “Aspirin.”

It is easy for us today to overlook or underestimate how important this discovery was for humanity. The availability of a safe, cheap way to alleviate pain allowed doctors an alternative to opium, which was the most widely prescribed drug by far in the late 19th century. At that time over 80% of prescriptions were for opioids. The use of opium and its derivatives (morphine, laudanum, etc.) created then, as it does now, widespread addiction. The opioid epidemic of the late 19th century was as bad as or worse than the one we're experiencing today. Once aspirin became available the use of opioids to treat pain fell dramatically and by the early 1900's only about 10% of prescriptions were for opioids.

Aspirin began to be sold over the counter in 1915. Nowadays it is commonly used to relieve pain and to prevent heart attacks.

Today is the birthday of Felix Hoffman, the inventor of aspirin. He was born on January 21, 1868.

Hoffman also successfully acetylated morphine to create a substance Bayer marketed as a pain reliever and cough suppressant--a substance they called "heroin." Because the compound had been previously discovered by an English chemist, however, Hoffman was not the first inventor of the product and it was not patentable.