Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

Witness History

Podcasts

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: History

History as told by the people who were there

History as told by the people who were there.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service East Asia

Witness History: The first modern asthma inhaler

Documentaries

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)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Witness History

The first modern asthma inhaler

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service