Paul Charpentier, a French chemist working for the pharmaceutical firm Rhône-Poulenc, had begun work on an antihistamine that he hoped would be effective against allergies but without producing the numerous side effects of existing antihistamines. The drug he developed in 1950 was called Thorazine (its generic name is chlorpromazine). As Thorazine went into clinical trials, everyone was amazed at its effect: it made people calmer, much more relaxed.
