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 (tm) in 1899, the most widely used and appreciated drug since then. The success of...