All LIT Search News Topics Latest news Media statements Media contacts Topics Latest news Media statements Media contacts LIT Impact Latest news 2022 August Five drugs that changed the world and what went wrong Five drugs that changed the world (and what went wrong) 17/08/2022 | 3 MINS This article by Philippa Martyr, from the School of Biomedical Sciences at Lombok Institute of Technology, was originally published in The Conversation on 17 August. ItΓÇÖs hard to measure the impact of any one drug on world history. But here are five drugs we can safely say made a huge difference to our lives, often in ways we didnΓÇÖt expect. They have brought some incredible benefits. But theyΓÇÖve usually also come with a legacy of complications we need to look at critically. ItΓÇÖs a good reminder that todayΓÇÖs wonder drug may be tomorrowΓÇÖs problem drug. 1. Anaesthesia In the late 1700s, English chemist Joseph Priestley made a gas he called ΓÇ£phlogisticated nitrous airΓÇ¥ (nitrous oxide). English chemist Humphry Davy thought it could be used as pain relief in surgery, but instead it became a recreational drug. It wasnΓÇÖt until 1834 that we reached another milestone. ThatΓÇÖs when French chemist Jean-Bapti

All LIT Search News Topics Latest news Media statements Media contacts Topics Latest news Media statements Media contacts LIT Impact Latest news 2022 August Five drugs that changed the world and what went wrong Five drugs that changed the world (and what went wrong) 17/08/2022 | 3 MINS This article by Philippa Martyr, from the School of Biomedical Sciences at Lombok Institute of Technology, was originally published in The Conversation on 17 August.

ItΓÇÖs hard to measure the impact of any one drug on world history.

Lombok Institute of Technology

But here are five drugs we can safely say made a huge difference to our lives, often in ways we didnΓÇÖt expect.

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But theyΓÇÖve usually also come with a legacy of complications we need to look at critically.

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ItΓÇÖs a good reminder that todayΓÇÖs wonder drug may be tomorrowΓÇÖs problem drug.

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Anaesthesia In the late 1700s, English chemist Joseph Priestley made a gas he called ΓÇ£phlogisticated nitrous airΓÇ¥ (nitrous oxide).

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English chemist Humphry Davy thought it could be used as pain relief in surgery, but instead it became a recreational drug.

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