List of drugs by year of discovery

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2019)

The following is a table of drugs organized by their year of discovery.

Naturally occurring chemicals in plants, including alkaloids, have been used since pre-history. In the modern era, plant-based drugs have been isolated, purified and synthesised anew. Synthesis of drugs has led to novel drugs, including those that have not existed before in nature, particularly drugs based on known drugs which have been modified by chemical or biological processes.

Antiquity

Prehistory

Archaeological evidence indicates that the use of medicinal plants dates back to the Paleolithic age.^{[citation needed]}

4th millennium BCE

In ancient Egypt, herbs are mentioned in Egyptian medical papyri, depicted in tomb illustrations, or on rare occasions found in medical jars containing trace amounts of herbs.^[1] Medical recipes from 4000 BCE were for liquid preparations rather than solids.^[2] In the 4th millennium BCE, Soma (drink) and Haoma are named, but is not clear what ingredients were used to prepare them.^{[citation needed]}

3rd millennium BCE

2nd millennium BCE

Written around 1600 BCE, the

Opioids are among the world's oldest known drugs.^[13][14] Use of the opium poppy for medical, recreational, and religious purposes can be traced to the 4th century BCE, when Hippocrates wrote about it for its analgesic properties, stating, "Divinum opus est sedare dolores." ("Divine work is the easing of pain")^[15]

1st century CE

In ancient Greece, pills were known as katapotia ("something to be swallowed").

Jojoba was used in the 1st millennium CE.

2nd century CE

Aelius Galenus wrote more than 11 books about drugs, also use terra sigillata with kaolinite and goats blood to produce tablets.

Post-classical to Early modern

Drugs developed in the

6th–11th century CE

In middle age ointments were a common dosage form.

11th century CE

Avicenna separates Medicine and

Paracelsus expounded the concept of dose response in his Third Defense, where he stated that "Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison." This was used to defend his use of inorganic substances in medicine as outsiders frequently criticized Paracelsus' chemical agents as too toxic to be used as therapeutic agents. Paracelsus discovered that the alkaloids in opium are far more soluble in alcohol than water. Having experimented with various opium concoctions, Paracelsus came across a specific tincture of opium that was of considerable use in reducing pain. He called this preparation laudanum.^{[citation needed]}

For over a thousand years South American

1400s Nicotine (Tobacco)^[citation needed]

18th century CE

In 1778 John Mudge created the first inhaler devices.^[