Education
Paracetamol had been synthesized in 1877 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It had no evidence medical value and thereafter had simply sat on a shelf for sixteen years.
In 1893, P-hydroxy-acetanilide was evaluated clinically by Dr. von Mering (1849-1908), who found that the drug produced methemoglobinemia.
Von Mering collaborated with the Bayer Company in a clinical trial of P-hydroxy-acetanilide, which it was postulated to be a metabolite of phenacetin by Trefuel and Hinsberg in1894.
He published a paper reporting on the clinical results of paracetamol with phenacetin, another aniline derivative. Von Mering claimed that, P-hydroxy-acetanilide to be effective antipyretic and analgesic, but believed it also had a tendency to produce methemoglobinemia.
Paracetamol was then quickly discarded in favor of phenacetin. It would remain, unused and apparently useless, for nearly half a century until it was rescued.
Von Mering's claims remained essentially unchallenged for half a century, until two teams of researchers from the United States analyzed the metabolism of acetanilide and paracetamol.
Paracetamol was reinvestigated half a century later by David Lester and Leon Greenberg from Yale University, who showed that it was indeed a metabolite of phenacetin in humans. In 1947 they found strong evidence that paracetamol was a major metabolite of acetanilide in human blood.
Lester and Greenberg demonstrated that paracetamol was the major metabolite so acetanilide and phenacetin and was relatively safe as an analgesic and antipyretic. In a subsequent study they reported that large doses of paracetamol given to albino rats did not cause methemoglobinemia.
Dr. von Mering and paracetamol
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Education
Dr. von Mering and paracetamol
Paracetamol had been synthesized in 1877 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It had no evidence medical value and thereafter had simply sat on a shelf for sixteen years.
In 1893, P-hydroxy-acetanilide was evaluated clinically by Dr. von Mering (1849-1908), who found that the drug produced methemoglobinemia.
Von Mering collaborated with the Bayer Company in a clinical trial of P-hydroxy-acetanilide, which it was postulated to be a metabolite of phenacetin by Trefuel and Hinsberg in1894.
He published a paper reporting on the clinical results of paracetamol with phenacetin, another aniline derivative. Von Mering claimed that, P-hydroxy-acetanilide to be effective antipyretic and analgesic, but believed it also had a tendency to produce methemoglobinemia.
Paracetamol was then quickly discarded in favor of phenacetin. It would remain, unused and apparently useless, for nearly half a century until it was rescued.
Von Mering's claims remained essentially unchallenged for half a century, until two teams of researchers from the United States analyzed the metabolism of acetanilide and paracetamol.
Paracetamol was reinvestigated half a century later by David Lester and Leon Greenberg from Yale University, who showed that it was indeed a metabolite of phenacetin in humans. In 1947 they found strong evidence that paracetamol was a major metabolite of acetanilide in human blood.
Lester and Greenberg demonstrated that paracetamol was the major metabolite so acetanilide and phenacetin and was relatively safe as an analgesic and antipyretic. In a subsequent study they reported that large doses of paracetamol given to albino rats did not cause methemoglobinemia.
Dr. von Mering and paracetamol
- Medicine Nobel Prize For 2015
The 2015 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology has been awarded to scientists who developed new drugs for roundworm parasites and malaria. The treatments have improved the lives of 3.4 billion people around the world, says the Nobel committee. Half...
- Half Life Of Radio Active Decay
Most of us have not been taught to think instinctively in terms of logarithmic or exponential terms even though many natural phenomena display exponential behaviours. Most of the forms of thinking which we have been taught in school are based on linear...
- William Harvey And The Circulation Of The Blood
William Harvey was born in Folkestone, Kent on 1 April 1578 to Thomas Harvey and his second wife Joan at a ‘faire built stone house’ known as the ‘Post House’. His father was a merchant. Harvey was educated at King's College, Canterbury In...
- Domagk, Gerhard (1895 – 1964)
Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk German bacteriologist awarded the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of antibacterial effects of Prontosil, the first sulphonamide drug. Born the son of a teacher in October 30, 1895, in Lagow in...
- History Of Aspirin
From historical perspective, as early as about 3000 BC, aspirin in its crude form was known to the Egyptians, who employed the decoction of salicylates-containing plants like myrtle or willow leaves for joint pain. Hippocrates of Kos, around 500 BC, recommended...