A Mighty Pen

Chemical Heritage Foundation
EpiPen is the more commonly used trade name for an epinephrine autoinjector. No bigger than a cigar, the device is a Cold War spin-off based on the 19th-century innovation of hollow-needle injections. During the Cold War the military wanted a quick way for troops to self-inject antidotes to nerve gas. In the 1970s inventor Sheldon Kaplan recognized that modifications in the pen could turn it into a lifesaver for civilians, especially those susceptible to anaphylactic shock, where a fast response can mean the difference between life and death.

The History

The History
Everybody thinks Epi-pens are the first and only cure for peanut allergies but that is absolutely wrong. The first cure found for peanut allergies were Ana-Kit also known as Anapen .It is an injectable medication that is used for an immediate treatment for a severe anaphylactic allergic reaction, such as an allergic reaction to an insect sting, a food, or a drug. It is also used to treat severe asthma attacks. It can help control such symptoms as itching, sneezing, a runny nose, and watery eyes. Ana-Kit contains two drugs: an epinephrine injection and chlorpheniramine tablets. This drugs are only found in genetic versions. The Anapen looks completely different than the Epi-pen. Reaction Rescues

Sheldon Kaplan

Sheldon Kaplan Obituary
KAPLAN, Sheldon 70, a biomechanical engineer who invented the EpiPen, died at home on Monday, Sept. 21 after a short, valiant battle with cancer. During his 40 year career, Mr. Kaplan developed numerous lifesaving technologies that are used by doctors in hospitals worldwide. Notable among these is the EpiPen autoinjector, which is carried by tens of millions of people around the world to treat allergic reactions in emergency situations. Legacy

Sheldon Kaplan EpiPen

EpiPen gives doses of life-saving epinephrine for nearly 50 years

History
The EpiPen was first made as the ComboPen, invented by Shel Kaplan. The ComboPen was a device filled with an antidote used in the ?military that stopped a phosphorus-containing organic chemical in the body that disrupts the mechanism that helps the nerves bring messages to organs. Later, Shel Kaplan decided to make the ComboPen into and EpiPen, a device that brings epinephrine to the body. The EpiPen was made in the 1977.

From AAProtein

Origin of the EpiPen

From Sheldon Kaplan to Mylan Pharmaceuticals

A Ritch Heritage of Inovation

Speed is often of the essence in the midst of a critical situation. Delivering an antidote or medication rapidly in an acute medical crisis can be lifesaving.1 Meridian's long history of working closely with such entities as the United States Army and NASA has allowed us to create innovative drug delivery systems to help meet the needs of those responding to certain medical crises. Merididianmeds

First Antihistamine

Bovet and his research student Anne-Marie Staub succeeded in synthesizing the first antihistamine. This first attempt was too toxic to use in humans, however, so from 1937 to 1941 Bovet conducted thousands of experiments to produce a usable antihistamine. He succeeded with pyrilamine, which was introduced to the public in 1944.
Read more: Discoveries in Medacine

Benadryl

NY TImes George Rieveschl, a chemical engineer (not a medical doctor) whom millions of sufferers of allergies, colds, rashes, hives and hay fever can thank for the relief they receive by swallowing a capsule of beta-dimethylaminoethylbenzhydryl ether hydrochloride — the antihistamine he invented and renamed Benadryl

Auvi-Q

Who invented the Auvi-Q Epinephrine
Who invented the new Auvi-Q epinephrine talking devise?
Eric and Evan Edward at age 3
Twin brothers Eric and Evan Edwards grew up with severe food allergies and having to self carry Epipen's at all times motivated them to create the Auvi-Q. rectangular devise. The Epipen and Auvi-Q contain the same drug epinephrine, which can help stop a severe allergic reaction, known as anaphylaxis from becoming fatal.

King Menses of Egipt

"Perhaps the earliest report of allergic disease is that of King Menses of Egypt, who was killed by the sting of a wasp at some time between 3640 and 3300 BC. Another report from ancient history is that of Britannicus, the son of the Roman Emperor Claudius. He was allergic to horses and "would develop a rash and his eyes swelled to the extent that he could not see where he was going". Accordingly, the honour of riding at the head of the young patricians fell to Nero who was Claudius’s adopted son. Nero allegedly threw Christians to the lions and killed Britannicus. Sir Thomas More gives the next authoritative account of allergy: King Richard III used his allergy to strawberries to good effect in arranging the judicial murder of Lord William Hastings. The King surreptitiously ate some strawberries just prior to giving an audience to Hastings and promptly developed acute urticaria. He then accused Hastings of putting a curse on him, an action that demanded the head of Hastings on a plate."

From From Auckland Allergy Clinic

King Richard III

Did you know that the lowly strawberry is responsible for a major historical event? It's true. Though England's King Richard III (1452-1485) is now famous mostly for his purportedly hunched back, tyrannical rule and subsequent unflattering immortalization by Shakespeare, he may also have been the first to inflict death by dessert. According to a biography written by Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Richard was mistrustful of his old friend, Lord William Hastings (1431-1483) — a powerful figure who was sympathetic to the throne's rightful heir, the young Edward V (1470-1483) — and needed to do away with him in order to accede the throne. Richard, who was allergic to strawberries, secretly ate a few before meetings with Hastings one day. After falling ill quickly and dramatically, he publicly accused Hastings of putting a curse on him. The hapless Hastings was then arrested on charges of treason and dispatched in the first recorded execution at the Tower of London. Richard was coronated a week later. From Doctors Review

"Professor Charles Robert Richet, Nobel Prize Winner for Medicine and Physiology in 1913, for the discovery of anaphylaxis. With his versatile personality he was involved in many different fields. His investigative work included diverse themes such as respiration, digestion, epilepsy and the regulation of body heat. To him we owe three new words, and as such, three new concepts: anaphylaxis, polypnea and zoomotherapy."

From National Libary of Medicine

Clements Von Pirquet

"Allergy is the term coined by Austrian paediatrician Clemens von Pirquet in 1906 in bringing together the Greek word allos meaning altered and ergia meaning reactivity. Allergy has now come to be known as a term defining altered reactivity to specific substances, which are otherwise harmless to people.

llergy is the term coined by Austrian paediatrician Clemens von Pirquet in 1906 in bringing together the Greek word allos meaning altered and ergia meaning reactivity. Allergy has now come to be known as a term defining altered reactivity to specific substances, which are otherwise harmless to people."

From American Academy of Pediatrics

"Descriptions of apparent allergic reactions to natural rubber appeared in the medical literature in 1927, and irritant and delayed-contact reactions were reported in 1933. Although irritant and delayed-contact reactions to rubber products were increasingly recognized, immediate-type allergic reactions were not reported again until 1979. However, after 1980, increasing numbers of contact urticarial reactions to latex were reported, and investigations suggested that many of these reactions were IgE-mediated. "

From National Libary of Medicine

"In 1819, Dr. John Bostock first accurately described hay fever as a disease that affected the upper respiratory tract. Fifty years later, Charles Blakely performed the first skin test by applying pollen through a small break in the skin."

From the Allergy Asthma Center (www.allergydoctors.com)

"In 1913, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his researches on anaphylaxis. He invented this word to designate the sensitivity developed by an organism after it had been given a parenteral injection of a colloid or protein substance or a toxin (1902). Later he demonstrated the facts of passive anaphylaxis and anaphylaxis in vitro. The applications of anaphylaxis to medicine are extremely numerous. "

From nobelprise.org