File:EphedrineInBottles.jpg

Summary
ephedrine

In 1887 Nagajoshi Nagai (1845­1929), a Japanese researcher working in Germany, isolated ephedrine as the active ingredient of ma huang but found the substance to be highly toxic. In the 1920s, Chinese pharmacologist Ko Kuei Chen (1898­1988) and American pharmacologist Carl F. Schmidt (1893­1965), working at Peking Union Medical College, isolated ephedrine again. Chen and Schmidt, working with much smaller doses than Nagai, demonstrated ephedrine's value in treating heart disease and asthma. By 1927 Eli Lilly & Co. was manufacturing ephedrine on a large scale. (Courtesy National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)
 * Lilly Syrup No. 110, Ephedrine Sulphate, 1932
 * Lilly Inhalant No. 20, Ephedrine Compound, 1932
 * Swan-Myers Ephedrine Inhalant No. 66, ca. 1940

Source: NIH: Government information at NLM Web sites is in the public domain.