Grünenthal prohibited the research and manufacture of penicillin by German companies. When the ban was lifted, Grünenthal was the first company to introduce penicillin in the postwar period into the German market. This investment achieved a big financial boost for the company. Chemie Grünenthal synthesized thalidomide in 1954 and acquired a 20-year patent. Soon after obtaining a patent in April 1954, the company started clinical trials, and as early as November 1956, marketed the drug for the treatment of respiratory infections under the trade name Grippex, a combination drug that contained thalidomide, quinine, vitamin C, phenacetin, and acetylsalicylic acid. Researchers at
Acetohydroxamic acid Acetohydroxamic acid Acetohydroxamic acid (also known as AHA or by the trade name Lithostat) is a drug that is a potent and irreversible enzyme inhibitor of the urease enzyme in various bacteria and plants; it is usually used for urinary tract infections. The molecule is similar to urea but is not hydrolyzable by urease; it thus disrupts the bacteria's metabolism through competitive inhibition. In 1983 the US Food and Drug Administration approved acetohydroxamic acid (AHA) as an orphan drug for "prevention of so-called struvite stones" under the newly enacted Orphan Drug Act of 1983. AHA cannot be patented because it