Eli Lilly was the first distributor of methadone in the United States, an analgesic used frequently in the treatment of heroin, opium and other opioid and narcotic drug addictions. Eli Lilly was able to acquire the right to produce the drug commercially for just $1 because the patent rights of the original patent holders, IG Farben and Farbwerke Hoechst, were not protected after the Allies of World War II seized all German patents, research records and trade names. Eli Lilly introduced the drug to the United States in 1947, marketed under the trade name "Dolophine".