Pharmaceutical research has a long-standing tradition in Bayer since the estab lishment of a Pharmaceutical Department 25 years after the foundation of the Farbenfabriken of Friedrich Bayer & Co. in the city of Elberfeld, Germany. In 1888 one of the first antipyretic drugs, phenacetin, was synthesized. A mile stone was marked by the discovery and launch of Aspirin in 1899, the most widely used and appreciated drug since then. The success of Bayer 205 (Germanin TM) in the treatment of sleeping sickness 1ed not only to the worldwide recognition of Bayer as a pharmaceutical com pany but also to...