PENICILLIN: Meeting the Challenge

by Gladys L. Hobby ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 14, 1985

The Fleming-penicillin story is more than a twice-told tale (e.g., Andre Maurois in 1959; Ronald Hare in 1978; G. Macfarlane in 1984). Not so familiar is the story of the impetus to scale up production of the antibiotic in WW II. That tale, told through the eyes of a participant scientist, makes remarkably good, even exciting reading; indeed, it is medical history's equivalent of the Manhattan Project. Hobby was at Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons in the 1940s, working with fellow investigators on streptococcal infections. Howard Florey's and Ernst Chain's initial publications recounting the potential of Fleming's 1928 discovery led the Columbia group to secure mold samples and develop their own extracts. Their experiments and subsequent paper delivered to a professional group was reported in both the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and The New York Times (by William Lawrence). Thus the spark was ignited. In her meticulous re-telling, Hobby describes how Florey et al. appealed to the US for help in manufacturing penicillin. A major resource was the National Regional Laboratory (of the Dept. of Agriculture) at Peoria, Illinois, which had considerable experience with fermentation processes, and where, coincidentally, one of the most important and productive strains of penicillin turned up in a moldy cantaloupe. A combination of such fortuitious events and know-how enabled America to achieve dramatic success in producing penicillin using corn steep liquor, various precursors, suitable molds strains, and a revolving drum method that obviated the need for endless flasks sitting on their sides for surface cultivation of the mold. (Penicillium needs air to grow, but ingenious techniques allowed air to reach the mold as it was rotated and agitated in the high-volume drums.) Hobby details the mobilization of wartime research under Vannevar Bush and the Office of Scientific Research and Development with its subsidiary Council on Medical Research. What is astonishing today was the degree of total cooperation among the pharmaceutical companies, the universities and the government--no profits; no secrets. Also few constraints: Crude penicillin was tested in patients and recovered from their urine for re-injection. When the drug failed, it was usually because of inadequate dosage. By the end of the war, production kept pace with the need and companies like Pfizer (which Hobby later joined) were among leaders in the new deep fermentation processes. Hobby completes her technological roundup with an account of penicillin research worldwide--including a story of how, in converting a brewery in Austria in 1948, a disinfectant used to decontaminate growing mold led to the discovery of a pencillin metabolite that was stable in acid. That discovery paved the way for oral penicillin (i.e., stable against destruction by gastric juices). Hobby also describes the mode of action and the various types of penicillin, later antibiotics, and problems of resistance. Her epilogue makes it clear that she has chosen to concentrate on cooperation and collaboration. She cares not a whit about jealousies or personality differences widely discussed in other accounts. So do not look for scandal or acrimony here. Do expect a scholar's narrative of one of the most dramatic stories in medical history.

Pub Date: Aug. 14, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Yale Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1985

Categories: NONFICTION