Researched
Salvarsan: the magic bullet
Paul Ehrlich's Salvarsan (1909) was the first designed drug to kill a microbe, the syphilis bacterium, without killing the patient.
Open in the interactive tree →Paul Ehrlich and Sahachiro Hata tested hundreds of arsenic compounds against the syphilis bacterium and found compound 606 in 1909; it was sold as Salvarsan from 1910. Ehrlich's idea of a 'magic bullet' that hits the germ and spares the body, and his systematic screening of synthetic compounds, founded chemotherapy. Sulfa drugs and antibiotics followed the same path.
Prerequisites
- Organic Synthesis (Wöhler)1828
- Synthetic Dyes (Mauveine)1856Ehrlich's chemotherapy grew from dye chemistry and staining
- Germ theory1861
Unlocks
- Antibiotics1928Ehrlich's magic-bullet screening set the template for antimicrobials
- Sulfa drugs1935
- Chemotherapy1942Ehrlich coined 'chemotherapy' for Salvarsan
Sources
More in Medicine · Machine Age
- Vitamins and deficiency diseases1747-1912
- Blood groups and transfusion1901
- Electrocardiogram1903
- Chlorinated drinking water1908
- Insulin1921
- Antibiotics1928
- Sulfa drugs1935
- Chemotherapy1942