When Was Fentanyl Invented?

Fentanyl was invented in 1960, more than six decades ago, by a Belgian pharmacologist named Paul Janssen. At the time, it was hailed as a significant step forward in pain medicine.

Today, it’s at the center of the deadliest drug crisis in American history. So, how did we get here?

Key Takeaways

Fentanyl was invented in 1960 by Dr. Paul Janssen as a medical opioid designed for surgical use.
It entered U.S. medicine in 1968 and was initially used almost exclusively in hospital settings.
New delivery systems like patches and lozenges expanded fentanyl’s medical use outside the hospital in the 1990s.
Illicit fentanyl appeared decades ago, but the modern overdose crisis accelerated sharply around 2013.
Its extreme potency, low production cost, and presence in counterfeit pills and mixed drug supplies made it spread rapidly.
Fentanyl is now one of the main drivers of overdose deaths in the United States.

Who Invented Fentanyl?

Fentanyl was created by Dr. Paul Janssen, founder of Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Belgian pharmaceutical company. Janssen was a prolific chemist known for developing dozens of medications throughout his career, and fentanyl was among his earliest major contributions.

With fentanyl, his goal was ultimately to create an opioid painkiller that worked faster and was easier to control during surgery than the options available at the time. Morphine, the standard of care, was effective but slow-acting and harder to titrate precisely. But fentanyl offered a solution to this problem. It entered the bloodstream quickly, wore off faster, and gave anesthesiologists more control in the operating room.

Year	Event	Description / Significance
1960	Fentanyl was invented	Belgian pharmacologist Dr. Paul Janssen developed fentanyl as a faster-acting, more controllable opioid than morphine for medical use, especially during surgery.
1968	FDA approval of Sublimaze	The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved fentanyl under the brand name Sublimaze, and it was primarily used in hospitals by trained medical professionals.
1970s–1980s	Early illegal use appears	Illicit fentanyl began surfacing in California, contributing to overdose deaths and attracting the attention of public health officials and the DEA.
1990	Duragesic patch approved	The fentanyl patch made outpatient prescribing possible, especially for chronic pain management in cancer patients.
1998	Actiq lozenge approved	The fentanyl lozenge, often called a fentanyl lollipop, was approved for breakthrough cancer pain, expanding fentanyl’s use beyond hospital settings.
Late 1990s–2000s	Prescription opioid crisis grows	Widespread opioid prescribing created a large population of people with opioid dependence, setting the stage for later fentanyl misuse.
Around 2013	Illicit fentanyl enters the drug supply at scale	Criminal organizations began manufacturing fentanyl in large quantities using precursor chemicals sourced largely from China, accelerating its spread across the United States.
By 2016	Fentanyl overtakes heroin	Fentanyl became the leading cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States, surpassing heroin due to its potency, low cost, and widespread contamination of other drugs.
Recent years	Dominant driver of overdose deaths	Fentanyl has been involved in about 69% of all U.S. drug overdose deaths, with more than 70,000 fentanyl-involved deaths reported in a single year.

When Was Fentanyl First Used in Medicine?

After its development in 1960, fentanyl was introduced into clinical practice in Europe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it in 1968 under the brand name Sublimaze. At the beginning, fentanyl was almost exclusively used in hospital settings, administered intravenously by trained medical staff. It rarely left the operating room.

But his changed in 1990, when the fentanyl patch, sold under the name Duragesic, received FDA approval. For the first time, fentanyl could be prescribed for outpatient use, worn on the skin and absorbed slowly over time. It was approved for chronic pain management, particularly for cancer patients.

Then, in 1998, the Actiq lozenge (a fentanyl lollipop) was also approved for breakthrough cancer pain. Each new formulation brought fentanyl further outside the hospital, and closer to the possibility of misuse.

When Did Fentanyl Start Being Used Illegally?

The use of illegal fentanyl occurred in California in the 1970s and early 1980s. It caused a cluster of overdose deaths that alarmed public health officials and caught the attention of the DEA.

Yet, the current epidemic took shape around 2013, when illicitly manufactured fentanyl began appearing in the U.S. drug supply at scale. Criminal organizations, primarily Mexican cartels, had figured out how to synthesize fentanyl using precursor chemicals sourced largely from China. The result was a product that was cheaper to make than heroin, far more potent, and small enough in volume to be smuggled across borders with relative ease. By 2016, fentanyl had overtaken heroin as the leading cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States.

Why Did Fentanyl Spread So Fast Through the Drug Supply?

The economics of fentanyl made it almost inevitable that it would take over the illicit drug market. A kilogram of heroin might cost a trafficker several thousand dollars to produce. Fentanyl, at a fraction of the cost, is roughly 50 times more potent by weight. And this means a much smaller quantity is needed to produce the same effect.

Traffickers began mixing fentanyl into heroin to stretch supply, then into cocaine and methamphetamine, and eventually into counterfeit prescription pills designed to look identical to legitimate medications like oxycodone or Xanax.

Meanwhile, the prescription opioid epidemic of the late 1990s and early 2000s had already created a large population of people struggling with opioid dependence. When pharmaceutical companies and regulators cracked down on prescription opioids, many people turned to street drugs, only to find that fentanyl had quietly taken over the supply.

How Many People Has Fentanyl Killed?

In recent years, fentanyl has been involved in about 69% of all drug overdose deaths in the United States. The CDC has reported more than 70,000 fentanyl-involved overdose deaths in a single year, a figure that has climbed steadily over the past decade.

And behind every statistic is a person—someone’s child, parent, partner, or friend. Fentanyl doesn’t discriminate. It has affected rural towns and major cities, teenagers and retirees, individuals with long histories of substance use, and individuals who had never used drugs before.

With that said, the story doesn’t end with these numbers. Thousands of people recover from opioid addiction every year. Recovery is absolutely possible.

At Freedom Recovery Centers (FRC) in Richmond, Virginia, our team works with people at every stage of addiction, including those struggling with fentanyl and opioid use disorder. If you or someone you care about is ready to take that first step, we’re here. Call us at 804-635-3746 or reach out through our online contact form. You don’t have to figure this out alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was fentanyl originally made for?	Fentanyl was originally developed as a surgical anesthetic to give doctors a faster-acting and more controllable alternative to morphine during procedures.
Is fentanyl still used medically today?	Yes. Fentanyl is still used in modern medicine for surgical settings and for managing severe pain, including some cancer-related pain conditions.
When did fentanyl first start being used illegally?	Illegal fentanyl use was documented in California during the 1970s and early 1980s, though the large-scale modern crisis emerged much later.
When did the current fentanyl epidemic begin?	The current epidemic took shape around 2013, when illicitly manufactured fentanyl began entering the U.S. drug supply at scale.
Why did fentanyl spread so quickly?	Fentanyl spread quickly because it is inexpensive to make, extremely potent, easy to smuggle in small quantities, and often mixed into heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and counterfeit prescription pills.
How did fentanyl get into the drug supply?	It entered the illicit drug supply in early localized waves decades ago, then much more broadly when criminal organizations began manufacturing it at scale using precursor chemicals from overseas.