From Aspirin to Viagra

Vladimir Marko was born in 1952 in Kosice, Eastern Slovakia. He studied organic chemistry at Slovak Technical University and biochemistry at Comenius University, both in Bratislava. He finished his university studies in 1975 and PhD. studies in 1980. From 1980 to 1991, Marko worked as a researcher in the Institute of Experimental Pharmacology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. As a member of the Department of Pharmacokinetics, he was responsible for the determination of drugs in biological fluids. In that time, he published several scientific articles and was also an editor of a book dealing with drug determinations (Determination of Beta-Blockers in Biological Material, Elsevier Science Publishers, 1989). In 1994, Marko began working for the Danish-based pharmacological company Lundbeck, first as a representative and later as the managing director for Slovakia. After nearly 20 years there, he retired in 2013.

Acknowledgements

Dedication

About the Author

Preface

1. Aspirin

          Story 1.1: The curious reverend and the bark of the willow

          Story 1.2: The three fathers and the two miracle drugs

          Story 1.4: The great German patriot and the Great Phenol Plot

          Story 1.5: The man from New Zealand and marketing magic

          Concluding remarks

2. Quinine

          Story 2.1: The Countess of Chinchón and the Jesuit Bark

          Story 2.2: The successful charlatan and the miracle medicine

          Story 2.3: The two friends and the yellow cinchona

          Story 2.4: The unlucky adventurer and the alpacas

          Story 2.5: The two opposing scientists and the mosquitoes with spotted wings

          Concluding remarks

3. Vitamin C

          Story 3.1: The famous admiral and scurvy

          Story 3.3: The snob and the 7,000 cannons

          Story 3.4: The Norwegian hygienist and guinea pigs

          Story 3.6: The hardworking chemist and the role of wine flies

          Concluding remarks

4. Insulin

          Story 4.1: The bold experimenter and sweet urine

          Story 4.2: The military doctor in Barbados and various diets

          Story 4.3: Two diabetologists, starvation, and Elizabeth the Iconic

          Story 4.4: The vivid scientist from Mauritius and the elixir of youth

          Story 4.5: The aspiring amateur and the elixir of life

          Story 4.6: The strong-minded scientist and her four hands

          Concluding remarks

5. Penicillin

          Story 5.1: The doctor with stained hands and the magic bullet

          Story 5.2: The rejected Nobel Prize and saving young Hildegard

          Story 5.3:The Scottish bacteriologist and his return from vacation

          Story 5.4: Three Englishmen and the benefits of America

          Story 5.5: Stubborn Andy and the need for meat

          Story 5.6: The renowned health professional and ethical blindness

          Concluding remarks

6. The Pill

          Story 6.1: Madame Restell and Fifth Avenue abortions

          Story 6.2: The revolutionary and birth control

          Story 6.3: The controversial biologist and his controversial experiments

          Story 6.4: The Catholic gynecologist and his futile hope

          Story 6.5: The three brilliant chemists

          Concluding remarks

7. Chlorpromazine

          Story 7.1: The enlightened doctor and freeing the insane

          Story 7.3: A French thinker and his lytic cocktail

          Story 7.4: A professor, his assistant, and psychiatric penicillin

          Concludingremarks

8. Prozac

          Story 8.1: Two psychiatrists, a singing cyclist and dancing patients

          Story 8.2: Three chemists and three neurotransmitters

          Story 8.3: The role of the medicine box

          Story 8.4: How we forgot to grieve

          Concluding remarks

9. Viagra

          Story 9.1: The autodidact of Delft and the penis's status in history

          Story 9.2: The son of a Russian vodka maker and elixirs of youth

          Story 9.4: A urologist drops his pants and what men are willing to endure

          Story 9.5: The big medicine producer and the farmer's beautiful daughter

10. Vaccines

          Story 10.1: A beautiful aristocrat and the Ottoman method

          Story 10.2: A wise farmer, a famous doctor and how vaccination got its name

          Story 10.3: A sick slave and the chain transfer of vaccines across the Atlantic

          Story 10.4: Two greats and only one Nobel Prize

          Story 10.5: "Sir Almost Wright" and military brains

          Story 10.6: The Righteous Among the Nations and lice feeders

          Story 10.7: The Somali cook and a huge victory

          Story 10.8: A gastroenterologist and one of the worst hoaxes in medicine

          Concluding remarks

11. Conclusion

Selected Bibliography

Index