Glorious Serendipity

The more recent history provides a lesson in how perceived and real medical need can drive production. In 1940, about 2,500 units of penicillin were made. But in 1943, the U.S. Army undertook impressive scaling-up and had made millions of doses per day. This was because they perceived that there was a crisis and that the Army was vulnerable. They could do this because it is easy to establish efficacy for antibiotics. Even then it took only three days. Today, it takes only six hours with a technique called polymerase chain reaction and known as PCR— the 

Production of penicillin is stUl miririal by fermentation (Gist-Bcadees in Belgium is the only manufactuarr). Military intervention to pwerve sources in 1940 in Oxford, and in 1943 by the U.S. Army (which can be compaed with the 2001 ciprofloxacin crisis ). 

Determining the site of action gives rise to new classes of antibiotics. 

FailuE of new antibiotics in clinical trials is on safety or solubjlhjrd virtually never on efficacy 

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