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Witness History: The first modern asthma inhaler

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The first modern asthma inhaler

19/08/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, The first modern asthma inhaler

Millions of people’s lives have been saved and improved by the metered dose inhaler.

The metered dose inhaler was the first portable and effective asthma treatment. It was produced in 1956 after a girl asked "why can't my medication come in a can like hairspray?"

Asthma affects more children than any other non-communicable disease - and it was a teenager who first asked her father "why can't they put my asthma medication in a spray can like hairspray?". Luckily her father ran a pharmaceutical company and got a team of scientists to work on the idea.  Charlie Thiel is the one surviving member of the team.  The chemist helped create a drug formulation of fine spray that reached further into the lungs than any previous treatment. Claire Bowes hears from him and his colleague Stephen Stein who has helped him document his story.

Photo: Girl using metered dose inhaler  2001 (BBC)

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