List of drugs by year of discovery

Archaeological evidence indicates that the use of medicinal plants dates back to the Paleolithic age, these traditions were shared and transmitted by shamans since approximately 60,000 years ago.

In ancient Egypt, herbs are mentioned in Egyptian medical papyri, depicted in tomb illustrations, or on rare occasions found in medical jars containing trace amounts of herbs.[1] Medical recipes from 4000 BC were for liquid preparations rather than solids.[2] In 4th millennium BC, it is named Soma (drink) and Haoma, but is not clear what were the ingredients to prepare them.

Around 1600 BC was written Edwin Smith Papyrus, it describes the use of many herbal drugs, around 1550 BC was written the most important medical papyri of ancient Egypt, the Ebers Papyrus, it covers more than 700 drugs, mainly of plant origin.[7] The first references to pills were found on papyruses in ancient Egypt, and contained bread dough, honey or grease. Medicinal ingredients, such as plant powders or spices, were mixed in and formed by hand to make little balls, or pills.[2] The papyri also describe how to prepare herbal teas, poultices, ointments, eye drops, suppositories, enemas, laxatives, etc. Aloe vera was used in the 2nd millennium BC.[8]

In Greece Theophrastus of Eresos wrote in the 4th c. B.C. Historia Plantarum[9] Seeds likely used for herbalism have been found in archaeological sites of Bronze Age China dating from the Shang Dynasty[10] (c. 1600 BC–c. 1046 BC). Over a hundred of the 224 drugs mentioned in the Huangdi Neijing, an early Chinese medical text, are herbs.[11] Herbs also commonly featured in the medicine of ancient India, where the principal treatment for diseases was diet.[12]

A sample of raw opium

Opioids are among the world's oldest known drugs.[13][14] Use of the opium poppy for medical, recreational, and religious purposes can be traced to the 4th century B.C., when Hippocrates wrote about it for its analgesic properties, stating, "Divinum opus est sedare dolores."[15]

In ancient Greece, pills were known as katapotia ("something to be swallowed"). Pliny the Elder, who lived from 23–79 AD, first gave a name to what we now call pills, calling them pilula.[2] Pliny also wrote Naturalis Historia a collection of 38 books and the first pharmacopoea.

Pedanius Dioscorides wrote De Materia Medica (c. 40 – 90 AD); this book dominated the area of drug knowledge for some 1500 years until the 1600s.[18]

Jojoba was used in the 1st millennium AD.

Aelius Galenus wrote more than 11 books about drugs, also use terra sigillata with kaolinite and goats blood to produce tablets.

In 754, during Abbasid Caliphate were formed the first pharmacies in Baghdad.

In middle age ointments were a common dosage form.

Avicenna separates Medicine and Pharmacy, in 1025 published his book The Canon of Medicine, an encyclopedia of medicine formed by five books. Drugs mentioned by Avicenna include agaric, scammony and euphorbium.[19] The latex of Euphorbia resinifera contains Resiniferatoxin, an ultra potent capsaicin analog. Desensitization to resiniferatoxin is tested in clinical trials to treat neuropathic pain.[20]

Paracelsus expounded the concept of dose response in his Third Defense, where he stated that "Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison." This was used to defend his use of inorganic substances in medicine as outsiders frequently criticized Paracelsus' chemical agents as too toxic to be used as therapeutic agents. Paracelsus discovered that the alkaloids in opium are far more soluble in alcohol than water. Having experimented with various opium concoctions, Paracelsus came across a specific tincture of opium that was of considerable use in reducing pain. He called this preparation laudanum.

For over a thousand years South American indigenous peoples have chewed Erythroxylon coca leaves, which contain alkaloids such as cocaine. Coca leaf remains have been found with ancient Peruvian mummies.[21] There is also evidence coca leaves were used as an anesthetic.[22] In 1569, Spanish botanist Nicolás Monardes described the indigenous peoples' practice of chewing a mixture of tobacco and coca leaves to induce "great contentment":

In 1778 John Mudge created the first inhaler devices. In 1747, James Lind, surgeon of HMS Salisbury, conducted the first clinical trial ever recorded, on it he studied how citrus fruit were capable of curing scurvy.

In the 1830s chemist Justus von Liebig begin the synthesis of organic molecules, stating that "The production of all organic substances no longer belongs just to living organisms." In 1832 produced chloral hydrate, the first synthetic sleeping drug. In 1833 French chemist Anselme Payen was the first to discover an enzyme, diastase. In 1834, François Mothes and Joseph Dublanc created a method to produce a single-piece gelatin capsule that was sealed with a drop of gelatin solution. In 1853 Alexander Wood was the first physician that used hypodermic needle to dispense drugs via Injections. In 1858 Dr. M. Sales Giron invented the first pressurized inhaler.

Amphetamine was first synthesized in 1887 in Germany by Romanian chemist Lazăr Edeleanu who named it phenylisopropylamine;[23][24][25] its stimulant effects remained unknown until 1927, when it was independently resynthesized by Gordon Alles and reported to have sympathomimetic properties.[25] Shortly after amphetamine, methamphetamine was synthesized from ephedrine in 1893 by Japanese chemist Nagai Nagayoshi.[26] Three decades later, in 1919, methamphetamine hydrochloride was synthesized by pharmacologist Akira Ogata via reduction of ephedrine using red phosphorus and iodine.[27]

In 1901 Jōkichi Takamine isolated and synthesized the first hormone, Adrenaline. In 1907 Alfred Bertheim synthesized Arsphenamine, the first man-made antibiotic. In 1927 Erik Rotheim patented the first aerosol spray can. In 1933 Robert Pauli Scherer created a method to develop softgels.

William Roberts studies about penicillin were continued by Alexander Fleming, who in 1928 concluded that penicillin had an antibiotic effect. In 1944 Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain mass-produced penicillin. In 1948 Raymond P. Ahlquist published his seminal work where divided adrenoceptors into α- and β-adrenoceptor subtypes, this allowed a better understanding of drugs mechanisms of action.

In 1987, after Montreal Protocol, CFC inhalers were phased out and HFA inhalers replace them. In 1987 CRISPR technique was discovered by Yoshizumi Ishino that in the next century would be used for genome editing.