Willow active extract of the bark, called salicin, was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the compound in its pure state. In 1897, Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin (in his case derived from the "Spiraea" plant), which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally acetylsalicylic acid, was named Aspirin by Hoffmann's employer Bayer AG. This gave rise to the hugely important class of drugs known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Some of humans'
Aminohippuric acid was given along with penicillin in order to prolong the time penicillin circulated in the blood. Because both penicillin and "para"-aminohippurate compete for the same transporter in the kidney, administering "para"-aminohippurate with penicillin decreased the clearance of penicillin from the body by the kidney, providing better antibacterial therapy. Transporters found in the kidney eliminate organic anions and cations from the blood by moving substances, in this case, drug metabolites, from blood into urine. In vultures, the NSAID diclofenac, which is extraordinarily toxic to vultures, interferes with the renal transport of uric acid via the PAH channel. p"K" = 3.83 Aminohippuric