Pharmaceutical industry microbiological fermentation

Great impetus was given to the technology of industrial microbiology in the 1940s with the establishment of fermentation processes to produce antibiotic penicillin, a bactericidal pharmaceutical that has saved millions of lives. Following penicillin, fermentation processes were developed for the production of numerous other significant antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals. 

Nereus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Department of Microbiology and Industrial Fermentation, San Diego, CA 92121, USA... 

The industrial production of penicillin by Pfizer in 1943 transformed the chemistry of natural products. Microbiology became its field and pharmaceutical research became its leading trend. The main driving force behind the research of the chemistry of natural products was and still remains to be human health care. Since the advent of antibiotics, many sources of natural chemicals, such as plants, fungi and bacteria, have been searched for antibacterials, anticancer products, immuno-suppressors and chemicals that affect the human psyche. This research was so successful that, even today, more than half of all pharmaceuticals are either natural products or derived from, or inspired by them. The market of antibiotics alone was ca. US 30 billion in 2005. The majority of antibiotics is produced by submerged fermentation of filamentous microorganisms such as soil prokaryotic actinomycetes and eukaryotic moulds, ascomycetes. 

Polymeric biosurfactants have begun to receive attention because of their renewable source and potential natural compatibility for use in medical and pharmaceutical applications. They may be produced and extracted from a number of microbiological sources and have indicated great potential utility in specific applications. Since they are generally produced as products of fermentation processes, their cost, for now, at least, may preclude their wide application in general industrial or commercial products. It has also been found that the exact structure of the amphiphilic material produced and the overall yield of useful product can be highly... 

---