Health & biology · 1910

Salvarsan

Paul Ehrlich's compound 606 cured syphilis, the first modern targeted drug.

After screening hundreds of arsenic compounds, Ehrlich and Sahachiro Hata found arsphenamine in 1909, launched in 1910. It realised Ehrlich's magic bullet idea and began systematic drug discovery.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Koch's bacteriology 1876
Synthetic dye (mauveine) 1856

What it led to 1

Sulfa drugs 1935

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Life expectancy in the UK since 1543 Latest: 81.3 years (2023) Source: Our World in Data