Bayer including pneumonia and tuberculosis. Bayer scientists were not the first to make heroin, but the company led the way in commercializing it. "Heroin" was a Bayer trademark until after World War I. In 1903 Bayer licensed the patent for the hypnotic drug diethylbarbituric acid from its inventors Emil Fischer and Joseph von Mering. It was marketed under the trade name Veronal as a sleep aid beginning in 1904. Systematic investigations of the effect of structural changes on potency and duration of action at Bayer led to the discovery of phenobarbital in 1911 and the discovery of its potent anti-epileptic activity
Sterling Drug the counter division of Sterling Winthrop in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico from SmithKline Beecham for $1 billion. Bayer also re-acquired the brand rights to the "Bayer Aspirin" name it had lost because of World War I. Spinoffs from the sale of Sterling include Starwin Products, created in 1987 from Sterling’s original branch in Ghana. The Lehn & Fink division was acquired by Reckitt & Colman (now Reckitt Benckiser) at the time of the deal. Sterling Drug Sterling Drug was an American global pharmaceutical company, known as Sterling-Winthrop, Inc. after the merger with Winthrop-Stearns Inc. (which resulted from the