Friday, February 22, 2008

pharmeceutical envy

"Aspirin was first synthesized by chemists at the Bayer firm in Dusseldorf, Germany. Marketed first as a loose powder in 1899, it came in tablets by 1915. It quickly became the world's most prescribed drug both by doctors and home medicators. At the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the Aspirin trademark became part of the Allies' war-reparation demands, forcing Germany to surrender the brand name to France, England, Russia, and the United States. Aspirin with a capital A became plain aspirin."
--from Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life, 1876-1915 by Thomas J. Schlereth.

Obviously the argument that advances in medicine should be free is not a new one.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Heh! O the stories I could tell -- as you know! I can understand who companies want to recoup their costs, but past a certain point, I'm not sure they shouldn't be issuing free bandages for the gouging they do. [signed] Ms. $1800/month for just one of the things she will take for the foreseeable future. :-)