Interesting facts about pharmaceutical technology of drugs. Interesting facts from the history of medicine
Are you familiar with the following interesting facts about pharmacies? Let's take a little dip into history.
9 PHOTOS
1. Coca-Cola was invented by pharmacist John Pemberton. He brought a jug of the new product to Jacob's Drug Store, where it was selected, said "great," and sold for 5 cents a glass as soda. 
2. The pharmacy cross is green (see examples on posteffect.ru). While red is the symbol of the ambulance service and the Red Cross organization, and blue is the veterinary service. 
3. The first licensed pharmacist set up shop in the French Quarter. Louis Dufilot Jr. of New Orleans became America's first licensed pharmacist in the early 1800s. Before this, you didn't need a license to become a pharmacist. 
4. World market pharmaceuticals is $300 billion as of 2015. 
5. Benjamin Franklin was a pharmacist and Agatha Christie was an apothecary.
This also subsequently left its mark on her work: 83 crimes in her works were committed through poisoning 
6. Lipitor (Atorvastatin) is the best-selling drug of all time. It was introduced in 1997 and its patent expired in 2011, having generated approximately $125 billion in sales. It is recommended to use the drug only after other measures, such as diet, physical exercise and weight loss did not improve cholesterol levels sufficiently. 
7. Insulin is one of the most common medications that causes side effects. 
8. Hydrocodone/acetaminophen is the most commonly prescribed medication in the United States. It's an opioid narcotic analgesic and a cough suppressant. In Russia this drug prohibited and included in the list narcotic drugs. Lisinopril No. 2, since 2014. 
9. Most expensive drug is Glybera's wholesale price at $1.21 million per course. This is a gene therapy that helps restore the activity of lipoprotein lipase enzymes in individuals with lipoprotein deficiency. This is a very rare disease.
Every year on the third Saturday of September, Pharmacist Day is celebrated in Ukraine. The editors of the magazine "Sugar" join in the congratulations! Some facts about such an important and interesting profession...
- access_time
- Meaning of the word
The word "pharmacist" has a very ancient origin. Translated from Greek, it means “he who gives healing and protects from disease.”
- Emblem
The famous emblem of pharmacies around the world - a bowl with a snake - is not only the most
widespread in the world, but also the oldest. It was found back in the 8th – 6th centuries. BC.
- Women in pharmacology
Previously, pharmaceuticals was an exclusively male occupation. Only in the second half of the 19th century did pharmacy owners begin to hire women. In 1895, only 13 women worked as pharmacy assistants.
" Medicine in hand knowledgeable person is likened to immortality and life, in the hands of an ignoramus - to fire and sword
- Statistics for Ukraine:
Every morning in the country, 9,500 pharmacies, 5,500 pharmacy points, approximately 900 pharmacy warehouses and almost 7,000 medical institutions open their doors. And this is more than 5,000 pharmaceutical organizations. Total number There are about 1/3 million employees in this area.
Interesting Facts from the world of pharmacology:
In conditions of weightlessness, caries develops faster than on Earth. On the teeth of mice launched into space, microorganisms that cause caries multiplied more actively than usual. It is believed that in zero gravity saliva is distributed worse oral cavity and does not wash away microorganisms from teeth well.
Extremely rare in horses cardiovascular diseases. English veterinarian S. Littlejohn explains this in the following way: “Horses do not smoke, do not drink, adhere to strict vegetarian diet and do a lot of physical exercise.”
Most medicines in hospitals of the 18th–19th centuries. accepted only with beer. As an excellent tonic, disinfectant and restorative drink, beer was given to recovering patients in hospitals in St. Petersburg until the middle of the 19th century.
How more educated person, the lower the likelihood of brain diseases. Intellectual activity causes the production of additional tissue to compensate for the disease.
It is a little secret that in the 19th century, including in the territory of the current CIS, they were widely used narcotic drugs as medicines(opiates were used to treat everything from colds to migraines and fractures). Also, few people will be surprised by the story that sildenafil (Viagra) was initially tested by pharmacologists as a means to treat the heart - only a person very far from medicine does not know this story.
However, there are plenty of lesser-known, but no less curious cases in the history of medicines - we have collected for you the most interesting facts about medicines.
Would you like a packet of prescription ketchup?
In the second half of the 19th century, ketchup was sold in pharmacies and prescribed as a treatment skin diseases and baldness. Of course, this is hard to believe, because an appetizing portion of ketchup looks much better on a plate than on someone’s head, but experts of that time considered lycopene (a red pigment, in significant amount contained in ketchup) is quite effective and was confidently recommended for external use.
Liquid metal from all troubles
Mercury is the only metal that has a liquid state at room temperature. “Why not drink it, if technically it is quite possible,” apparently, this is exactly what a doctor who lived in America in the 19th century decided and recommended this miracle remedy for all ills. There was even a recommendation to take a glass of mercury for “volvulus” (acute intestinal obstruction) – we assume that the underlying disease after such a dose of toxic metal no longer bothered the patient. However, there was also logic - since the Middle Ages, syphilis and a number of other diseases have been successfully treated with mercury. They died, of course, but they didn’t think that mercury was to blame. Today it is known that mercury is a very toxic metal, and its use in medicine has been reduced to filling thermometers ( mercury thermometers contain about 2 g of mercury and do not pose a threat, unless, of course, you break the glass tube in which the mercury is located - mercury vapor is also quite toxic).
If you want to lose weight, get worms
It sounds absurd, of course, but this did not stop the sale of diet pills with worm eggs in the 40s and 50s. XX century. Let's assume that such pills had a certain effect, but is it possible to find a safer method?
Petroleum products? Help yourself
In the middle of the 19th century, an American scientist created Vaseline (which, as is known, is obtained from petroleum fractions; however, it was originally called “petroleum jelly”). It was sold as a cleaning product for furniture upholstery and wooden elements. But what kind of researcher is he if he doesn’t taste his invention - and Chesterburg tried it, and then recommended everyone to take a teaspoon of it daily (we don’t know how he did it, but the scientist himself, following his advice (or contrary to it) ?), lived to be 96 years old).
Antibiotics: Fleming or the Ancient Egyptians?
It is known that the first antibiotic penicillin was obtained by Alexander Fleming at the beginning of the 20th century - well, you know this story with a forgotten Petri dish, where mold appeared and the bacterial culture suddenly died. Everything would be fine, but the ancient Egyptians infectious diseases They recommended eating moldy bread, and this is almost the same penicillin from almost the same mold. Hmm, and for almost two millennia people have been dying from nonsense (by the standards modern medicine with antibiotics) infections. Maybe the ancient Egyptians had something else interesting?
Radical remedy for toothache
The most radical remedy for toothache - sugar. “It’s logical,” thought Elizabeth Petrovna’s courtiers. “No teeth, no toothache.” No matter how strange it may sound, this is exactly how they dealt with trouble during the reign of Elizabeth in Russian Empire. It should be noted that not everyone had money for sugar and only aristocrats could afford such “treatment”. However, the barbers were ready not only to give a haircut, but also to remove a couple of teeth (including healthy ones) to an ordinary person for quite a small fee.
Autograph in exchange for medicine
There is a story that Anton Pavlovich Chekhov once fell ill and sent a messenger to the pharmacy for castor oil capsules (it’s not surprising that the great writer wanted capsules - it’s still a pleasure to eat castor oil with spoons), but the cunning pharmacist simply gave incredible size a drug. Then Chekhov, writing “I am not a horse” on the piece of paper, sent the messenger back. In the end, almost everyone was satisfied: Anton Pavlovich received normal size the drug, the pharmacist’s autograph, and only the messenger had to walk a considerable distance once again.
Placebo for suspiciousness
Not only in the 19th century did ladies like to pretend to be ill with or without cause; today both adults and children engage in similar fun. But welcome real medicines may cause harm - side effects no one canceled. How to treat capricious people? American pharmaceutical company released special drug from “nothing”. Certainly, Excipients for the formation of tablets there is, but instead of the active one there is a great and powerful “nothing”. The tablets are released in completely “medical” packaging, on which “Obecalp” is written in Latin - read in the opposite direction and get “Placebo”.
Oral contraceptives – monthly dose per day
The first contraceptives contained in one tablet a dose of hormones similar to what is now contained in a whole pack, designed for a month of use. It is not surprising that such a dose led to negative consequences and the pills didn’t make women very happy.
