Production of Penicillin

To the Editor: Regarding Dr. Lerner's history of the production of penicillin (Aug. 5 issue) 1 , rarely has the development of a medical therapy occasioned such dedication and excitement. Charles Fletcher commented that “it is difficult to convey the excitement of actually witnessing the amazin...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe New England journal of medicine Vol. 352; no. 1; p. 97
Main Author Tishler, Peter V
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Massachusetts Medical Society 06.01.2005
Subjects
Cooperative Behavior
Drug Industry - history
Federal Government - history
History, 20th Century
Humans
Penicillins - history
Penicillins - therapeutic use
United States
United States
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:To the Editor: Regarding Dr. Lerner's history of the production of penicillin (Aug. 5 issue) 1 , rarely has the development of a medical therapy occasioned such dedication and excitement. Charles Fletcher commented that “it is difficult to convey the excitement of actually witnessing the amazing power of penicillin over infections for which there had previously been no effective treatment.” 2 World War II was a major impetus for the crash program of penicillin production. 3 This partnership of drug companies and the U.S. government set aside commercialism, patents, and antitrust law to encourage the sharing of information and know-how. The initial companies . . .
Bibliography:SourceType-Books-1
content type line 6
ObjectType-Correspondence-1
ObjectType-Commentary-2
ObjectType-Feature-4
ObjectType-Article-3
ISSN:0028-4793
1533-4406
DOI:10.1056/NEJM200501063520121