Aspirin: Drug Stories Part-II
Aspirin The chemical name of aspirin is acetyl salicylic acid. Introduced into therapeutics in 1897, it has successfully completed 125 years and still holds the scientists and doctors in awe over it's possible uses! We will get to these uses later. First, about the discovery… There are accounts of usage of bark of willow tree ( Salix sp.) by many old civilisations like Assyrians, Sumerians, Egyptians and Chinese for treatment of conditions like muscular and joint pain, rheumatism and fever. However, the first modern report about systematic experimentation on the therapeutic action of willow bark in treatment of ‘ague’ (a fever marked by paroxysms of chills, fever, and sweating that recur at regular intervals) conducted by Edward stone, a vicar in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire was published by the Royal Society in 1763. Reverend Edw ard had accidentally tasted willow bark and its bitterness reminded him of chinchona bark (contains quinine) that was then being used