Kalmaline (Greek medicament)
Place where the object is located
Museum for the History of Medicine, School of Medicine, A.U.Th., Thessaloniki, Greece
Story of the object
Kalmaline was used as a painkiller in Greece,. It contained acetylsalicylic acid and caffeine and was produced by Vifel company. This specific box was used in 1960. It was created and viewed in Greece as the rival and alternative to aspirine.
EARLY USE
On of the most commonly used drugs that changed the world is aspirin. Johann Büchner, Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Munich, isolated in 1828 a yellow substance from willow tree, which he called “salicin” (meaning willow in Latin). In 1829, Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, isolated a pure crystalline form of salicin. In 1878, Friedrich Bayer built a chemical laboratory, at first used in the dye industry. In 1895, Arthur Eichengrün, the head of chemical research at Bayer, assigned to Felix Hoffmann, a chemist, to find a better salicylic acid, with less side effects. Due to Hoffmann’s personal interest (his father suffered from rheumatism and could no longer stand taking salicylic acid), he managed to modify the hydroxyl group on the benzene ring, altering salicylic acid chemically. At first Bayer sent out small packets of the drug to doctors, pharmacists and hospitals and managed to patent Aspirin in Britain and the USA, patent that were soon overturned. Being thus in need of tying the company to Aspirin, Bayer quit distributing Aspirin powder to doctors and pharmacists and switched to pill form of the drug in 1900 while in 1915 it became available as the first over-the-counter drug. Numerous alternatives appeared such as Alka-Seltzer (a soluble mix of aspirin and bicarbonate of soda) and Cafaspirin (aspirin with caffeine) putting aspirin to new uses. Kalmaline appearing above, is the Greek version of Cafaspirin.
RELATIVE READINGS
• Sneader W. The discovery of aspirin: a reappraisal. BMJ. 2000;321(7276):1591-1594.
doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7276.1591
• Miner J, Hoffhines A. The discovery of aspirin's antithrombotic effects. Tex Heart Inst J. 2007;34(2):179-
186.
• Rinsema TJ. One hundred years of aspirin. Med Hist. 1999 Oct;43(4):502-7.
• Manley L. A look back: the wonder drug. J Emerg Nurs. 2000 Feb;26(1):75.
• Van Cauwenberge H. L'aspirine, un médicament toujours d'actualité [Aspirin, an always current drug]. Rev
Med Liege. 1996 Jan;51(1):7-18.
EARLY USE
On of the most commonly used drugs that changed the world is aspirin. Johann Büchner, Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Munich, isolated in 1828 a yellow substance from willow tree, which he called “salicin” (meaning willow in Latin). In 1829, Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, isolated a pure crystalline form of salicin. In 1878, Friedrich Bayer built a chemical laboratory, at first used in the dye industry. In 1895, Arthur Eichengrün, the head of chemical research at Bayer, assigned to Felix Hoffmann, a chemist, to find a better salicylic acid, with less side effects. Due to Hoffmann’s personal interest (his father suffered from rheumatism and could no longer stand taking salicylic acid), he managed to modify the hydroxyl group on the benzene ring, altering salicylic acid chemically. At first Bayer sent out small packets of the drug to doctors, pharmacists and hospitals and managed to patent Aspirin in Britain and the USA, patent that were soon overturned. Being thus in need of tying the company to Aspirin, Bayer quit distributing Aspirin powder to doctors and pharmacists and switched to pill form of the drug in 1900 while in 1915 it became available as the first over-the-counter drug. Numerous alternatives appeared such as Alka-Seltzer (a soluble mix of aspirin and bicarbonate of soda) and Cafaspirin (aspirin with caffeine) putting aspirin to new uses. Kalmaline appearing above, is the Greek version of Cafaspirin.
RELATIVE READINGS
• Sneader W. The discovery of aspirin: a reappraisal. BMJ. 2000;321(7276):1591-1594.
doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7276.1591
• Miner J, Hoffhines A. The discovery of aspirin's antithrombotic effects. Tex Heart Inst J. 2007;34(2):179-
186.
• Rinsema TJ. One hundred years of aspirin. Med Hist. 1999 Oct;43(4):502-7.
• Manley L. A look back: the wonder drug. J Emerg Nurs. 2000 Feb;26(1):75.
• Van Cauwenberge H. L'aspirine, un médicament toujours d'actualité [Aspirin, an always current drug]. Rev
Med Liege. 1996 Jan;51(1):7-18.
Unit of the Educational Material connected (5 - 1)
Label
Item 0276. The item was donated to the Museum for the History of Medicine, AUTH, by Emeritus Prof. Pharmacology Dr. Vassilios Kokkas.
