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
Bex (compound analgesic) Bex (compound analgesic) Bex was a strong compound analgesic which was popular in Australia for much of the twentieth century. It came in the form of APC (aspirin–phenacetin–caffeine) tablets or powder, containing 42% aspirin, 42% phenacetin, plus caffeine. Bex was a product of Beckers Pty Ltd., originally based at Pym Street, Dudley Park, South Australia, but which relocated to Sydney in the 1960s. It was advertised with the phrase, "Stressful Day? What you need is a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down". Bex (and other APC products such as Vincent's) powders were particularly seen as the