The aspirin tablet is 100 years old

By Burcu Arik

ISTANBUL

 "For many people aspirin is just a widely used drug, but for me it is a miracle," says Ozlem Cetiner, a 29-year-old English teacher in Istanbul, who says that she has been using aspirin since she was a little girl. 

Aspirin was first synthesized by the German chemist Felix Hoffmann in 1897 while he was working for the German pharmaceutical company Friedrich Bayer & Co.

Although the drug was patented by Bayer two years later, in 1899, it was in Oct. 1915, exactly 100 years ago, when the drug was launched to the markets in tablet form without any prescription. 

According to Ozlem, aspirin is not only used to treat pain, fever, and inflammation. "Believe me I used aspirin even to heal my pimples or to boost my plants and flowers," Cetiner says.

The most common drug found in medicine cabinets, in desk drawers or jacket pockets, aspirin has much an older tale as one of its ingredients has been used since in ancient Egyptian and Greek times.

According to the historical records left by Greek physician Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, the use of powder which was made of the leaves of willow -- a key ingredient in the aspirin compound-- had the ability to heal aches and fevers even in the ancient times. 

Aspirin has its fair share of fans in Turkey. There are even Turkish expressions mentioning the drug such as "Aspirin gibi her derde deva olmak" (Heal-all like an aspirin).

Halil Tekiner, a professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Erciyes University in the central province of Kayseri, wrote in an article titled Reflections of Aspirin in Turkish Literature that the drug hit the Turkish market in 1923 though its reputation had preceded it. 

According to Tekiner, aspirin suffered from a decline in popularity in Turkey from the 1960s to the 1990s due to the entrance of new analgesics into the market. 

"However, the 1990s marked a peak in aspirin’s popularity as new research suggested its previously unknown benefits", Tekiner writes.

"Daily aspirin therapy is actually becoming a trend among people nowadays," says Oxlem, adding that she takes it every day to prevent breast cancer.

Throughout various studies worldwide over the years, aspirin has been proven to prevent some of the deadliest human ailments such as heart attacks, strokes, lung, breast and bowel cancer, migraine, or Alzheimer's disease.

A study of 14,000 cancer patients in the Netherlands in 2015 showed that regular usage of aspirin can double life expectancy of cancer patients while another study by the American Heart Association revealed the same year that people at high risk of a heart attack should take a low dosage of aspirin daily.

Furthermore, "the world's largest clinical trial", funded by Cancer Research UK and the country's National Health Service (NHS) is set to begin in the U.K. to determine whether taking an aspirin every day helps to prevent cancer. The study will include 11,000 patients over 12 years.

However, according to scientists, daily aspirin therapy can be a lifesaving option, but it is not for everyone.

"Aspirin can cause serious complications in people with other medical conditions such as asthma, or hemophilia --a bleeding disorder," explains Mahmut Sahin, a professor at the department of cardiology at On Dokuz Mayis University in the northern Turkish province of Samsun. 

"Aspirin is the most famous drug in medicine history. But, all drugs contain an active matter, you cannot know it would be good or harmful to your health without asking a doctor. You can have even a serious allergy," Sahin says.