Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug more effective than salicin and, in addition to its fever-reducing properties, is anti-inflammatory and analgesic. In 1869, Hermann Kolbe synthesised salicylate, although it was too acidic for the gastric mucosa. The reaction used to synthesise aromatic acid from a phenol in the presence of CO2 is known as the Kolbe-Schmitt reaction. By 1897 the German chemist Felix Hoffmann and the Bayer company prompted a new age of pharmacology by converting salicylic acid into acetylsalicylic acid—named aspirin by Heinrich Dreser. Other NSAIDs were developed from the 1950s forward. In 2001, NSAIDs accounted for 70,000,000 prescriptions and 30 billion over-the-counter doses sold
Mevalonic acid Mevalonic acid Mevalonic acid (MVA) is a key organic compound in biochemistry; the name is a contraction of dihydroxymethylvalerolactone. The carboxylate anion of mevalonic acid, which is the predominant form in biological environments, is known as "mevalonate" and is of major pharmaceutical importance. Drugs like statins (which lower levels of cholesterol) stop the production of mevalonate by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase. Mevalonic acid is very soluble in water and polar organic solvents. It exists in equilibrium with its lactone form, called mevalonolactone, that is formed by internal condensation of its terminal alcohol and carboxylic acid functional groups. Mevalonic acid is a