Laudanum his "archanum" or "laudanum", may or may not have contained opium. Paracelsus' laudanum was strikingly different from the standard laudanum of the 17th century and beyond, containing crushed pearls, musk, amber, and other substances. One researcher has documented that "Laudanum, as listed in the "London Pharmacopoeia" (1618), was a pill made from opium, saffron, castor, ambergris, musk and nutmeg". Laudanum remained largely unknown until the 1660s when English physician Thomas Sydenham (1624–1689) compounded a proprietary opium tincture that he also named laudanum, although it differed substantially from the laudanum of Paracelsus. In 1676 Sydenham published a seminal work, "Medical Observations
Drug Houses of Australia Drug Houses of Australia Drug Houses of Australia (DHA) was originally established in 1936 as an amalgamation of seven Australian pharmaceutical companies, notably A. M. Bickford & Sons. In 1970, DHA was taken over by the British bank Slater Walker. Drug Houses of Australia is now a leading generic pharmaceutics and Chinese proprietary medicine (CPM) manufacturer based in Jurong, Singapore. It was sold to Strides Arcolab through a share purchase agreement with Haw Par Healthcare Limited, Singapore in September 2006 for approximately SGD$19.7 million. It is currently a part of Strides Arcolab which is listed on both the Indian stock