Epinephrine analogues.

Tyramine was the first epinephrine analogue to be introduced into medicine, in the early 1900s. It was followed by ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in the 1920s and by the amfetamines a decade later. The popularity of the amfetamines grew throughout the 1930s and 1940s; after that, there was a slowly dawning realization that they were being widely abused.

The discovery and synthesis of epinephrine.

Epinephrine (adrenaline) was the first hormone to be isolated. The events leading up to this were initiated by experiments conducted by an English physician on his son. The active compound of epinephrine was isolated as an iron complex and marketed in 1900 by Farbwerke Hoechst as Suprarenin.

Histamine and the classic antihistamines.

The first steps leading to the recognition of histamine's biological activity were taken in 1907. The existence of histamine in the body was finally recognized by 1910, and many researchers were keen to establish its physiological role, especially with regard to clinical shock and hypersensitivity reactions. The Pasteur Institute succeeded in finding a drug that would act as a biochemical tool to block the actions of histamine in the body and thereby reveal more about its physiological role, but none of its compounds was potent or safe enough to use in humans.

The 50th Anniversary of Chlorpromazine.

In 1891, Paul Ehrlich began investigating the possible antimalarial effects of methylene blue. His studies prompted other such studies with antimalarials, including pheno-thiazine analogues of the dye. One of these analogues, fenethazine, was found to be a potent antihistamine, and was well received by clinicians as an antiallergic drug.