15. Methadone was invented by Nazi Germany as a solution to a shortage of painkillers, before being stolen by the United States and remarketed
Methadone is a synthetic opioid commonly used today in substitutional therapy as a medical assistance for people tapering from an existing opioid dependency; the effects of methadone are similar to that of morphine, providing pain relief for between 8 and 36 hours depending on the frequency of usage and retaining similar side effects to other opioids. In 2013 approximately 41,400 kilograms of methadone was manufactured, with the drug responsible in 2015 for 3,300 deaths in the United States alone.
Facing an opium shortage in Germany, scientists working for I.G. Farbenindustrie AG developed methadone in 1937 as a synthetic solution to the nation’s problem. Patented in 1941 under the name “Polamidon”, methadone entered the pharmaceutical market in 1943 and became widely used by the German armed forces throughout World War II. In the aftermath of the war all German patents were expropriated by the Western Allies, namely the United States, and the work of I.G. Farbenkonzern was confiscated by the U.S. Department of Commerce Intelligence; renamed “Methadone” in 1947 by the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association, the drug was introduced to the United States later the same year by Eli Lily and Company under the trade name “Dolophine”.