While inexpensive and effective, especially in the treatment of rheumatism, the drug carries a serious risk of severe and sometimes fatal side-effects, including agranulocytosis.

[citation needed] While its production and use have been banned in many countries, including France, Thailand, India and Japan, it is still sometimes used in the developing world.

[2] Aminophenazone was first synthesized by Friedrich Stolz and Ludwig Knorr in the late nineteenth century, and sold as an anti-fever medicine known as Pyramidon by Hoechst AG from 1897 until its eventual replacement[when?]

Ingestion may cause central nervous system stimulation, vomiting, convulsions, cyanosis, tinnitus, leukopenia, kidney damage and coma.

Ingestion may also lead to nausea, mental disturbances, methemoglobinemia, chocolate-colored blood, dizziness, epigastric pain, difficulty in hearing, thready pulse and liver damage.