The discovery of aspirin dates back to the 5th century B.C., when Hippocrates used a powder from the bark of a willow tree to ease minor pains, reduce fevers and to help with childbirth. The willow tree powder was actually salicin, the pharmacological ancestor to the family of drugs known as salicylates. The best known of which is aspirin. Later efforts where made to neutralize salicin with sodium, but unfortunately turned out to be useless.
             In 1853 a French chemist named Charles Fredric Gerhardt tried to improve sodium salicylate in 1853. He combined it with acetyl chloride, which proved to be less irritating to the stomach. After a few years of hard work, Gerhardt didn't see any future with this concoction and soon abandoned it.
             In 1899 a German chemist, Felix Hoffmann set out to find a formulation to relieve his father's arthritis pain. Hoffman used Gerhardt's research to synthesize acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), a compound that appeared to lower fever, reduce pain and at high doses relieved arthritis. Hoffmann, who worked for Bayer, took his research to his superiors. They, however, doubted the commercial success of ASA. This was because ASA commonly caused shortness of breath and very high heart rates when taken in large doses. Fredrick Bayer & Company gave ASA the now common name aspirin. They got this name from the A in acetyl chloride, the spir in spiraea ulmaria- the plant from which they derived salicylic acid, and the –in is the common drug ending of that time. When Bayer marketed the drug in 1897, they had no idea that it would turn out to be the most commonly used pain reliever in history.
             Aspirin works by inhibiting the production of prostaglandins, which are hormone-like substances that influence the elasticity of blood vessels, control urine contractions, and the direct functioning of blood platelets. Blood platelets cause blood clots and regulate numerous body functions. John Vane, Ph....