Aspirin was discovered during experimentation with a waste product
http://www.didyouknow.cd/aspirin.htm
The company employed chemists to come up with innovative dyes and products. While experimenting with a waste product of one of the dye components to find relieve for his father's rheumatism,Felix Hoffmann chemically synthesised a stable form of salicylic acid powder. The compound became the active ingredient in a pharmaceutical wonder product: Aspirin.