What is Salvarsan and who developed it?

• A. A penicillin antibiotic developed by Alexander Fleming
• B. A vaccine against syphilis
• C. An arsenical drug used to treat syphilis; developed by Paul Ehrlich
• D. An antiviral drug developed by Gertrude Elion

Answer: (C)

Salvarsan is an arsenic-containing drug used to treat syphilis, developed by Paul Ehrlich (with his collaborator Sahachiro Hata) around 1909–1910 as part of the early chemotherapy era and the “magic bullet” concept. It was the first widely used systemic treatment for a bacterial infection, known as arsphenamine or compound 606, and it remained the main therapy for syphilis until penicillin became available in the 1940s. The other options don’t fit because penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming, not Salvarsan; a vaccine is preventive rather than a treatment for an active infection; and Salvarsan is not an antiviral drug—the antiviral work associated with later researchers, including Gertrude Elion, involved different compounds.