These days we take all kinds of drugs and medicines, but where exactly do they come from? Here’s a run down of the different drugs we use today, and their accidental histories:
1. Novocain: This drug is used to numb a local area, such as while having a dental procedure, but how did we get this bright idea? According to wellness expert Lauren Gelman, ‘The commonly used anaesthetic is actually named for the drug cocaine. Cocaine was first introduced as a local anaesthetic in 1884, but it caused a number of addictions and deaths. A few years later, German chemist Alfred Einhorn began to look for a safer substitute; in 1905, he discovered the injectable local anaesthetic procaine, which became Novocain.’
2. Lithium: We use this drug for managing bipolar disorder and other issues related to mental wellbeing. However, Gelman notes, ‘Before it received FDA approval in 1970, the metal was first used in the 1840s to treat bladder stones and gout. A century later, Australian psychiatrist John Cade observed that guinea pigs injected with a form of lithium became sedated rather than excited; subsequent large-scale clinical studies confirmed lithium’s effectiveness for preventing mania.’
3. Cortisone: Gelman details, ‘Cortisone (and subsequent forms, such as hydrocortisone) was created out of a WWII rumour that German pilots were injecting steroid hormones to help counteract high-altitude stress. The myth spurred the US military to research their own comparable drug.’ Now the drug is used for a variety of ailments, including inflammation, pain, allergies, skin disorders, and autoimmune diseases such as lupus and psoriasis.
4. Warfarin: This life-saving drug is used to stop blood clotting. Gelman describes, ‘In 1921, veterinarians in Canada and North Dakota observed that when certain cattle had a minor injury or surgery, they bled excessively and sometimes fatally. The doctors concluded that the cows had been eating spoiled clover, which contained a substance that caused the bleeding. In 1940, a University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemist isolated a pure form of the compound, and later it was introduced to the market as Warfarin.’
5. Rogaine: Gelman outlines, ‘Minoxidil first appeared on the market in 1979 as a breakthrough drug for high blood pressure. However, it increased body hair growth for 80% of patients who took the drug orally; within three to six weeks, patients would grow dark hair on the face and then on the back, chest, arms, and legs. Upjohn began marketing the drug as a solution to apply to the scalp in 1988.’
6. Viagra: This erectile dysfunction drug is also known by the generic name of Sidenafil. Gelman comments, ‘Sidenafil (the generic name) was first tested in the 1980s to treat high blood pressure and improve blood flow in patients with chest pain. In trials, it didn’t have much of an impact on angina, but it did lead to erections. In 1998 Sidenafil became the first oral drug approved to treat impotence, replacing injected medications.’
7. Tamoxifen: Gelman points out, ‘Tamoxifen was originally intended as an anti-fertility drug when it was synthesized in 1962, but it turned out that it stimulated ovulation instead of suppressing it.’ Now, we use Tamoxifen to treat oestrogen-positive breast cancer, which accounts for 50 to 70% of cases. Moreover, the drug may also prevent the development of breast cancer in high-risk patients.
8. AZT: ‘Jerome Horwitz, of the Karmanos Cancer Institute, first synthesized AZT as a potential anti-leukemia drug in 1964, but it didn’t work,’ says Gelman. ‘In the 1970s, AZT was found to be active against a retrovirus, which led government researchers to consider it as an HIV fighter. The FDA approved the drug in 1987.’