Hoffmann, We Have a Problem:
Testing the Hypothesis

It was now time to test the hypothesis. It's not enough just to propose a solution. You have to try it out to see if it works in the real world. Just because an idea works on paper doesn't mean it will work in the real world. So you can never say scientifically that your solution works until you've tried it and seen it work with your own eyes.

And that's what Hoffmann and his colleagues did. He had proposed that aspirin would be a pain reliever that didn't wreak havoc on the stomach. To see if he was right, after he'd made aspirin, he tried it on patients (after having tested it on animals first). The new drug worked wonders in relieving the symptoms of arthritis. This was encouraging, but more testing had to be done.

To ensure that this wasn't just a fluke, that aspirin really was a potent pain-reliever, it had to be tried on many people. In scientific circles, this is called showing reproducibility of results. An experiment always has to be repeated, many times, to be certain the results are reproducible. It doesn't mean much if the drug only works on one patient!

More tests of the drug were carried out on more patients by the Bayer Company in Elbersfeld, Germany, in 1897. The results were astounding. Everyone who participated in the studies and who took the new drug found great relief from pain. What's more, aspirin didn't cause the severe stomach pain that salicylic acid did. Some patients would get mild stomach aches with the new medication, but they were far less severe and far less common than the stomach aches caused by salicylic acid.

But there were results that Hoffmann did not expect...