 Norethandrolone was synthesized at G. D. Searle & Company in 1953 and was originally studied as a progestin, along with norethisterone and noretynodrel, but ultimately was not marketed as such.In 1955, it was re-examined for testosterone-like activity and was found to have similar anabolic activity to testosterone but only one-sixteenth the androgenic potency.Norethandrolone was introduced for medical use as an AAS in 1956 and was the first so-called "anabolic steroid", or AAS with a favorable separation of anabolic and androgenic effect, to be marketed.