The team
Dr Stewart Adams and his colleagues John Nicholson and Colin Burrows, who worked at the Boots Pure Drug Company in Nottingham, UK realised that the key to success was to find a safe drug that effectively reduced inflammation.

Click to enlarge - Stewart Adams (right) with Colin Burrows (left) and John Nicholson in the mid-1960s.

1955 – Early success
At first, their work was hampered by the lack of an experimental model with which to test compounds for potential therapeutic activity. This problem was solved in 1955 with their discovery that anti-inflammatory drugs reduced the erythema caused by Ultra Violet light on the skin, and that this offered a simple test to evaluate new compounds.

1958 – The search continues
The search then began in earnest, leading to the discovery of the phenoxy acids in August 1958. After 600 compounds in this class had been screened for activity, one (codenamed BTS 8402) was eventually tested in a clinical trial in 1960. Disappointingly, it was found to be no better than aspirin.

1961- Patent
Not to be deterred, Adams and co-workers then discovered a class of compounds known as phenylalkanoic acids. Like aspirin, these compounds possessed anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic activity. Within this class was 2-(4-isobutylphenyl)propionic acid - now better known as ibuprofen. Sensing success, the Boots team started to file for patent protection in 1961.

Click to enlarge - The patent for phenylalkanoic acids, including ibuprofen

1961 – First synthesised
Ibuprofen was first synthesised in December 1961. The Boots team realised that this was one of the safest compounds they had found so far and they selected it for further development in 1964. The first clinical trial was conducted in 1966 by Dr Tom Chalmers at the Northern General Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland. Chalmers clearly showed that ibuprofen reduced joint swelling and tenderness and improved joint function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Part of the report of the first clinical trial of ibuprofen (RD 13621) by Dr Tom Chalmers, showing that treatment reduced joint swelling and tenderness and improved joint function

1969 – Ibuprofen launched in the UK
In 1969, Boots launched ibuprofen in the UK as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis under the brand name Brufen. Despite Dr Chalmer’s findings, early clinical experience was disappointing at the recommended dose of 600 - 800 mg/day. However, knowing the drug’s good safety record, doctors started prescribing higher doses - eventually achieving the prescription doses used today: 1200 - 2400 mg/day.

1974 - Introduced in the US
When ibuprofen was introduced in the United States in 1974, the recommended dose there was 1200 - 3200 mg/day.
Subsequently, the use of ibuprofen became widespread and it was confirmed as one of the safest of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) - an important fact because concern about the side effects of these drugs had been mounting for some time.

1980s – Nurofen and Advil launched
Ibuprofen’s safety record remained so good that it became one of the first prescription-only drugs to be made available from high street pharmacies (in the UK in 1983 under the brand name Nurofen TM and in the United States in 1984 under the brand name Advil TM). The public could now buy it over- the-counter for the short-term treatment of acute pain such as headache, dental pain, migraine and period pain. It is estimated that, by 1985, over 100 million people had been treated with ibuprofen in over 120 countries.

1987 - Queen’s Award for Technological Development
In recognition of its achievement in developing ibuprofen, Boots was awarded the Queen’s Award for Technological Development for that year and, in 1987, Dr Stewart Adams was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire).

Today, ibuprofen is used by millions of consumers, adults and children, to treat minor pain from headache, migraine, dental pain, fever, muscle aches and pains, dysmenorrhea and a variety of other conditions associated with minor aches and pains. Ibuprofen also is still widely used as a prescription drug to treat both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.