How Coca-Cola Got Its Name Atlanta chemist John Pemberton developed several patented medicines in the late 19th century, including Triplex Liver Pills and Globe of Flower Cough Syrup. His most famous invention was an Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage, a cure for all nervous affections, sick headache, neuralgia, hysteria, and melancholy. Pembertons product (containing carbonated water, cane sugar syrup, caffeine, and extracts of coca leaves and kola nuts) was made available to the public on this date in 1886 and later marketed under a more telling name: Coca-Cola. Because Pemberton was ill, he sold two-thirds of his business in 1888 to cover expenses. He died later that year, never knowing how successful the product would become. An Atlanta wholesale druggist named Asa Candler bought the entire business in 1891 for 2,300 dollars.
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