https://paracelsusdoc.substack.com/p/you-can-thank-the-civil-war-for-pfizer?s=r
In 1861 the United States descended into civil war. History is written by the victors, and thus many key facts have been memory-holed in favor of a slavery-centered narrative. Sadly lost in today’s ‘civil war history’ is the story of our nation’s first opioid epidemic, Pfizer’s rise as a prominent pharmaceutical company, and the federal government’s hand in both those events.
This story starts before the war, when two German immigrants (Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart) started a chemical company in Brooklyn in 1849. The company had moderate success with its first product, an anti-parasitic drug that was compounded into a candy-like toffee. However, Pfizer was just one of dozens of other companies in the US manufacturing chemicals and pharmaceuticals at the time. Pfizer would use the Civil War to bring itself to prominence and profit, much as ‘defense’ companies do today.