Rethinking Antibiotic Research and Development: World War II and the Penicillin Collaborative

Abstract

Policy leaders and public health experts may be overlooking effective ways to stimulate innovative antibiotic research and development. I analyzed archival resources concerning the US government's efforts to produce penicillin during World War II, which demonstrate how much science policy can differ from present approaches. By contrast to current attempts to invigorate commercial participation in antibiotic development, the effort to develop the first commercially produced antibiotic did not rely on economic enticements or the further privatization of scientific resources. Rather, this extremely successful scientific and, ultimately, commercial endeavor was rooted in government stewardship, intraindustry cooperation, and the open exchange of scientific information. For policymakers facing the problem of stimulating antibiotic research and development, the origins of the antibiotic era offer a template for effective policy solutions that concentrate primarily on scientific rather than commercial goals.

Arqueología de la guerra después de la guerra

“…En este sentido, el objeto más interesante es un pequeño frasco de vidrio que asociamos, por los paralelos hasta ahora conocidos, a un bote de penicilina en su formato de pastillas, presente en los años 40 y 50 en la península ibérica (Figura 13). Aunque la penicilina fue descubierta por Alexander Fleming en 1928, no sería hasta la Segunda Guerra Mundial que su uso se extendió, salvando la vida de miles de personas (Quinn, 2013). Su llegada a España se produce precisamente durante este contexto bélico.…”

Pesticides and the Patent Bargain

“…Many important inventions were developed without making use of exclusive rights (e.g. for antibiotics see Quinn (2013)). At the most one could argue that some pesticides would have been developed at a later stage.…”

Antibiyotiklere Alternatif Terapi: CRISPR-Cas antimikrobiyalleri

“…The antibiotic revolution started with the discovery of penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928. The first penicillin was purified by Ernst Boris Chain and Howard Walter Florey in 1942, which then became world widely available in 1945 (Shama, 2008;Quinn, 2013). Deaths and amputations of soldiers during World War II were decreased significantly with the help of penicillin.…”