Borathium is a new rybotherapy developed by Dr. Toby Russell in 2368. She believed it to be decades more advanced than two related medications, leporazine and morathial, although it was still in the experimental stages at the time.
She used the drug on a seriously injured survivor of the USS Denver disaster in 2368, although morathial would have possibly been effective. The survivor later died, but Russell was content with the fact that she gained valuable data which would allow her to improve borathium. She felt she was justified in sacrificing one patient to potentially save thousands in the future. Dr. Beverly Crusher was not happy with Dr. Russell's decision, and relieved her of medical duty aboard the Enterprise-D following the incident. (TNG: "Ethics")