“Obviously… I know this story, but it’s even more fun!”

*Highly recommended by Jaehoon Jeong (pharmacist/food writer)!*
From Aspirin to Botox: The Amazing World of Medicine

The world has been experiencing the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic for over three years.
During this period, the world has never been more interested in the development of new drugs than in the COVID-19 vaccine.
As a result, interest naturally focused on how vaccines are developed.
However, after the vaccine was developed, some people questioned how it was developed so quickly and whether it was truly safe.

This book explains in detail how the drugs we use today were developed, the efforts and frustrations involved, the successes and failures of countless scientists along the way, and what these drugs are used for today.
From penicillin, which saved countless lives in World War II, to aspirin, which was also used by Hippocrates and the ancient Egyptians, to quinine, an anti-malarial drug that helped European imperialist powers colonize Africa, to digoxin, which is suspected of being responsible for the yellow color often used in Van Gogh's paintings, to nitrogen mustard, a cancer treatment accidentally discovered when the Italian port of Bari was bombed, to botox, a wrinkle treatment that has become one of the most used drugs in modern medicine, the world history related to drugs is fascinatingly unfolded in this book.
Another strength of this book is that it covers not only the well-known stories of penicillin and aspirin, but also the history and stories of various types of drugs, including antidepressants and hair loss treatments, which are major concerns of the pharmaceutical industry today.

A world history tour that explores how 15 familiar drugs, from penicillin to botox, came into existence is fascinating, but those with a keen interest in medicine will also find it quite enjoyable to simply read the questions and answers covered in the "Recipes Outside the Pharmacy" section at the end of each chapter.
You will get clear answers to questions you have always wondered about, such as what off-label prescribing is, why taking two pills instead of one doesn't double the effect, why prescription drugs are advertised to the public, why diabetics shouldn't just take their insulin, and how generic drugs are made.
Plus, it contains practical information that will actually help you use your medicine.
For example, cat caregivers are advised to never use minoxidil and to never take aspirin while using minoxidil.
Pharmacist Jeong Jae-hoon, who recommended this book, praised the book, saying, “I cannot help but applaud the author for this history book that even explains why taking aspirin while using minoxidil, a hair loss treatment, reduces its effectiveness.”


It also provides comprehensive information for those studying the history of medicine, covering not only scientific but also global history, examining how the pharmaceutical industry's interests have evolved and the various methods available for developing new drugs.
Finally, in "Exiting Words," the long journey that began with penicillin is brought to a close, raising various questions about the future of medicine, including the COVID-19 vaccine, in the post-COVID era.

After returning from vacation, Fleming returned to the laboratory to find a strange mold growing on his badge.
Pyogenic bacteria were absent from the vicinity of the fungus and remained along the edges of the medium, away from the fungus.
Fleming immediately began searching for the identity of the mold that had killed the pyogenes.
In his 1929 paper, "The Special Relationship Between the Bactericidal Action of Penicillium Cultures and Haemophilus influenzae," which marked a major milestone in pharmaceutical science today and was the first to mention Penicillium rubrum, Fleming documented the discovery of penicillin.

--- p.22

According to legend, a traveler suffering from a high fever became lost and became trapped in the Andean jungle of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, where he stumbled upon a pond.
The traveler, who was very thirsty, drank a lot of water from the pond.
The pond water tasted bitter, so I was suddenly afraid that it might be poisoned.
So people thought that the tree called “kinakina” that surrounded the pond was the culprit.
But rather, the opposite situation unfolded.
Because of this tree, the fever went down in no time.

--- p.45~46

Australian physician John Cade opened a new chapter in psychiatry by conducting a series of experiments on patients and guinea pigs at the mental hospital where he worked.
Cade followed in the footsteps of his father, David Cade, a World War I veteran and physician.
After returning home, my father suffered from the mental exhaustion caused by the war.
John Cade began to search for a way to escape the extreme fatigue that caused him to repeatedly visit his father due to mental stress and the aftereffects of the Spanish flu.

--- p.98

On December 2, 1943, during World War II, Germany launched a devastating attack on Allied forces anchored in the Italian port of Bari.
Coincidentally, this attack revealed that mustard gas can have anti-cancer effects in humans.
Seventeen ships were wrecked in this attack.
There was also the steamer John Harvey, which had a secret cargo inside: 2,000 mustard gas bombs.

--- p.215

However, the trigger that led to the discovery that warfarin was effective in preventing blood clots in humans was not a doctor or a scientist, but the suicide of a U.S. Navy recruit during the Korean War.
In 1951, a twenty-one-year-old recruit was transferred to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, complaining of back and abdominal pain and difficulty walking. Known only as EJH, the patient initially remained mute.

--- p.246

In 1987, plastic surgeon Richard Clark accidentally severed the frontal branch of a patient's facial nerve during a routine facelift.
Clark, 37, was immediately distraught, not only by the immediate consequences for the patient (half of the forehead muscle would be completely paralyzed, creating a comical asymmetry), but also by the fact that there were few options for fixing the problem.

--- p.266

But there was one side effect that neither the patient nor the doctor expected.
Side effects include hair growth all over the face and rapid growth of hair on the head and legs.
Even all these side effects were discovered in a woman who confessed that she had never shaved her legs.
Paul Grant reported this unusual side effect to Guinter Kahn, then chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy.

--- p.305

Julian McGinley of Cornell University School of Medicine studied children who were born with female characteristics but physically displayed hermaphroditic traits.
As these boys entered puberty, they developed male genitalia, a deeper voice, and muscle mass in their chests and arms, just like other teenage boys.

--- p.325