Penicillin

The core chemical structure of Penicillin

Penicillin is an anti-bacterial substance that is formed from the fungus Penicillium notatum and was widely used throughout World War II by the Allies. Penicillin is notable for its ability to kill certain harmful bacteria while at the same time remain non-toxic to humans and animal subjects.

History

Penicillin was first discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, though it was hardly paid much attention because of its difficulty to harvest on any useful scale. However, in 1938, a research group led by Professor Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at Oxford began to experiment with the substance’s medical properties. In May 1940, the group had produced enough of the substance to the point where they could test the substance’s effects on animals that had been given fatal doses of various diseases. The substance performed remarkably and more funding was requested to continue the research.

Further testing in Early 1941 showed that penicillin had the potential to be a better remedy than the sulfonamide drugs which had been in wide-spread use at the time. However, if the anti-bacterial substance was to be distributed to the British armed forces, then a massive amount would be required. The existing methods for cultivation of the fungus were to either allow the fungus to grow on a liquid medium of about 1.6 centimeters and then pour out the liquid and harvest the penicillin after ten days or to use huge fermenters and allow the fungus to grow on small pellets and stir the mixture of liquid, fungus, and sterile air for only one to three days. Regardless, both methods proved to be far more than what the British industry could produce.

Therefore, Norman Heatley, a worker on the project, was sent over to the United States in an attempt to persuade pharmaceutical companies to mass produce the drug. While hesitant at first, some companies did agree to join in on the development of penicillin and by 1942, enough had been produced to allow for human trials to begin. However, by Late 1942, there was still too little penicillin to make much of a difference in the treatment of wounded. Though, with the climbing requirement for penicillin to treat war wounded, eventually British corporations had ramped up production to produce up to 38 million units of the drug by mid-1943, most of which were sent to North Africa to treat wounded British troops. Following an August 1943 visit to to Washington D.C. by a British team of chemists and professors to stress the importance of penicillin production in the United States, American and Canadian production of penicillin also skyrocketed, then producing enough penicillin to treat any wounded that required the drug. Production of penicillin would continue on throughout the war and long after it as a very effective anti-biotic.