Back in the early 1960s, Stewart Adams – a pharmacist in the UK – had a bad hangover, but was due to speak at a European conference. The answer? Take the experimental drug that he had been developing with colleagues: 2-(4-isobutylphenyl) propionic acid – better known as ibuprofen. It worked a treat.
In 1969, the drug received its first approval as a prescription medicine (in the UK), but became available as an over-the-counter product in the mid-1980s. Today, ibuprofen is included on the WHO’s list of essential medicines.
Adams was initially seeking a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis; while looking at other anti-inflammatories, he was struck by some of aspirin’s disadvantages. The search for an alternative began, with Adams and his colleagues at Boots Pure Drug Company testing more than 600 chemical compounds in the process.
Adams was born in 1923 in Nottingham. He studied pharmacy at the University of Nottingham and started working at Boots Pure Drug Company in 1952. He died at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham on January 30, 2019, at the age of 95.
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