From disulfiram to Antabuse: the invention of a drug

Antabuse is the trade name for an org. sulfur compd., chem. identical to disulfiram or tetraethylthiuram disulfide, a light-gray cryst. powder with a mol. wt. of 296.54. In 1945 Danish researchers obsd. that the substance caused very unpleasant physiol. effects in persons who had consumed alc. A few years later this chance observation was turned into a profitable prodn. of pills used to combat alcoholism (antabuse = anti-abuse). The new drug quickly came into general use in Denmark and also, if somewhat later and on a lesser scale, internationally.