Build a Steroid
Cortisone
To produce cortisone, the chemist needs only modify the hydroxyl
group in hydrocortisone using another oxidation reaction. When it
was first isolated from animals, cortisone—which is used to
treat ailments such as rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and
hepatitis—cost about $100 a gram. But after chemists
determined how to make it from the Mexican yam, production
increased, prices dropped, and the drug became widely available.