On this date in innovation history: John Nicholson and Stewart Adams receive a patent in 1966 for their discovery of the drug that is called “ibuprofen.” This was a radical, breakthrough discovery in more effectively treating inflammation and pain. Neither Aspirin nor Tylenol reduced inflammation. This is not to deny that Aspirin and Tylenol were themselves earlier breakthroughs in pain treatment, especially Tylenol, which more effectively reduced fevers than Aspirin. But both of these earlier drugs largely treated the pain by blocking the brain mechanisms associated with this sensation; for pain that was caused by inflammation, the underlying inflammation was mostly left unaddressed. Although Tylenol does have a mild effect on inflammation, it's primary target is the pain, not inflammation. Thus, pain caused by or associated with inflammation was not as effectively treated by these prior drug discoveries. 

Ibuprofen changed all this. A significant amount of pain in human life is caused by inflammation arising from injuries to bodily tissue, whether blunt-force trauma (bruising), arthritis, auto-immune disorders in which the immune system attacks the body's organs and tissue, etc., etc. After Drs. Nicholson and Stewart's discovery in 1966, these countless forms of injury were now treatable in a way they never had been before in human history. 

For this reason, Ibuprofen is included on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines, and it is one of the most widely prescribed medicines in the U.S. The next time you have a sinus headache, a painful bruise, an autoimmune flare up, arthritis, or some other common injury that results in inflammation, swelling, and pain, give a "thank you" shout out to Drs. Nicholson and Stewart while taking your ibuprofen pills (easily and cheaply acquired at the grocery store or drug store or perhaps ordered online). These two innovators in healthcare made it easy and relatively inexpensive for you to redress a universal malady in a way that humans were unable to do a mere 60 years ago.

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