We all go to the pharmacy to order and pick up our medicine. But do you know anything else about the pharmacy? Here are 6 interesting pharmacy facts.
Did you know that Dr. Pepper was designed to smell like a drugstore?
If you’re a fan of this soda, you can thank the pharmacist Charles Alderton for creating this ode to his workplace. When Alderton wasn’t busy mixing medicines for people, he liked to work behind the soda fountain counter mixing fruit syrups.
He kept a journal detailing his experiments where he tried to make a soda taste as good as the pharmacy smelled. The finished results are Dr. Pepper, which has remained a popular drink since its birth in 1885.
This is only the start of exploring the fascinating world of pharmacists. Keep reading to learn 6 more cool pharmacy facts.
Table of Contents
1. Interesting Facts About Pharmacists: All the Demographics You Need to Know
If you’re looking for a lucrative career, pharmacists earn around $100,000 each year.
Becoming a pharmacist isn’t a quick road to riches, though. Since working with medicine is a precise and life-changing science, you need to go to school for eight years.
Did you know that there are more female pharmacists than males? Even though women comprise 58% of the workforce, men still earn roughly $20,000 more in their salary. Next time you need to get a prescription filled, be sure to give a special thanks to the hardworking, determined women behind the counter.
The city with the highest concentration of pharmacists is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This fact is even more interesting once you know that the father of American pharmacy, William Procter, worked as a faculty member for the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. It’s nice to know that this city still values the work of pharmacists.
If you don’t want to move to the city of brotherly love, there is also a high demand for pharmacists in West Town, Illinois and Norman, Oklahoma.
2. Digital Pharmacy Interesting Facts: You Can Get Prescriptions Online
Did you know that Americans spend over $325 billion on prescriptions each year?
Even if you have health insurance, you may have a high deductible that forces you to pay for a lot of healthcare out of pocket.
People who have chronic illnesses like diabetes or heart disease need a steady supply of drugs to manage their conditions. If you or someone you know needs access to affordable prescriptions, then you need to know about one of the best pharmacy fun facts.
As long as you have a legitimate prescription written by a doctor, you can get name brand medication at a fraction of the cost online. Thanks to online pharmacies around the world, healthcare can be affordable for anyone. Check out this revolutionary canadian pharmacy that can mail your medicine straight to your door.
3. Strange Pharmacy Facts: The Most Expensive Drug Treats the Rarest Condition
The most expensive drug that scientists have created is called Glybera. It’s used to treat a condition that only affects around one million people. Although one million may sound like a lot, when you compare this figure with the world population of over eight billion people, this condition is considered rare.
Glybera has one of the most fascinating histories in medicine. Why? It costs a million dollars and only one person has been lucky enough to receive treatment.
Glybera is coined as the first gene therapy treatment. Elisabeth Steinhagen-Thiessen is the first and only doctor who used this drug to treat a woman suffering from lipoprotein lipase deficiency. Although the treatment involved 40 shots of this drug, the patient is reported to have made a full recovery and lives a normal life like the rest of us.
This price tag may be discouraging now, but it’s a big step forward in medicine. The more our technology improves, the cheaper it’ll be to treat all kinds of medical conditions.
4. America Didn’t Have Registered Pharmacists Until the 19th Century
One of the strangest pharmacist facts is that you couldn’t get licensed until the early 19th century. The first person to ever get licensed in America is Louis Dufilho Jr.
Although humans have been treating illnesses for centuries, a lot of our work has involved guessing and hoping for the best. Thanks to science, we’ve been able to study how drugs interact with our bodies better.
Some people romanticize life in the past, but they should at least be thankful for modern medicine!
5. Pharmacist Fun Facts: These Famous People Once Worked in the Field
If you’re a fan of mystery books, chances are high that you’ve read Agatha Christie before. Her chilling stories are known for murders involving poison. Christie wasn’t just a morbid person. Her knowledge of these drugs came from her pharmacist background!
Who doesn’t love Benjamin Franklin? Aside from all his exciting contributions to science, Franklin also opened the first hospital pharmacy in America. Despite having little support from the public, Franklin was able to save lots of lives. This is further proof that this man was far ahead of his time.
If you have a crush on Thor, you’ll be interested in knowing that the dreamy actor Chris Hemsworth also came from a pharmacy background. Before he filmed awesome action movies, Hemsworth used to sterilize breast pumps and do other odd jobs at his local pharmacy.
6. Financial Facts about Pharmaceuticals: What Do We Buy Most?
Now that you know Americans spend over $300 billion on medicine each year, you might be curious about where that money is going.
The top-selling drug is Humira, which is used to treat autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. This drug earns over $18 billion each year.
Eylea is the prescription that comes in a second place by earning $8.23 billion. This drug is used to treat a range of eye conditions.
The third most-used drug is Revlimid. It’s used as chemotherapy to treat several types of cancers. People spent $8.19 billion on Revlimid in 2017.
Want to Know More Interesting Facts?
Did any of these pharmacy facts surprise you?
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