Bayer "heroin" for the drug diacetylmorphine and marketed it as a cough suppressant and non-addictive substitute for morphine until 1910. Bayer also introduced phenobarbital; prontosil, the first widely used antibiotic and the subject of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Medicine; the antibiotic Cipro (ciprofloxacin); and Yaz (drospirenone) birth control pills. In 1925 Bayer was one of six chemical companies that merged to form IG Farben, the world's largest chemical and pharmaceutical company. The Allied Control Council seized IG Farben after World War II, because of its role in the Nazi war effort and involvement in the Holocaust, which included using slave
Legal drug trade Legal drug trade Legal drug trade, as with other goods object of commerce, in opposition to smuggling or "illegal" drug trade, most psychotropic substances' commerce is under control and taxation by world governments, regardless of the relative perceived danger of the goods that are the object of legislation. Legal commerce in drugs can be categorized according to the purpose of consumption (therapeutic vs recreational), type of drug involved and phase of the trading process, i.e.: production, distribution or consumption. Drugs useful for treating diseases are the object of pharmaceutical research and medical practice, and produced by the pharmaceutical industry, which