Before the National Socialist party came to power, the German pharmaceutical industry constituted an international reference as far as the development of new medicines was concerned, having been responsible for synthetic analgesics (phenacetin, phenazones, acetylsalicylic acid), arsphenamine, barbiturates and sulfonamides. The year 1925 saw the founding of I.G. Farben (Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG), a conglomerate of companies that would monopolize the country’s chemical production and come to own all its major pharmaceutical industries.