Re: Who invented the first medicine for asthma?

The history of asthma treatment and prevention dates back to several centuries ago. In 1552, Girolamo Cardano responded to the problems of airway obstruction in the Archbishop of St. Andrews by taking away the feathers and pillows in his room. Two hundred years later, J.B. Van Helmont later described how dust, hereditary, climate, and emotion could play a role in bringing about asthmatic attacks. Over the course of the next few centuries, different historical figures in medicine discovered more about asthma and tried out new treatments for the disease. However, it was not until the 1850s that the first class of drug was used to treat asthmatics. Anticholinergics, which work by blocking certain nerve impulses, were used in the form of cigarettes and burning powders to treat asthma. Around 1888, doctors began using epinephrine (which is released during excited states in the human body) and theophylline (which is derived from tea leaves) as asthma medications. Both act as bronchial dilators, increasing the size of bronchioles to allow asthmatics to breathe easier. Epinephrine was isolated in 1897 by John Jacob Abel. For more information, see the July 2002 USA Today Magazine.